Chuck vs River and Roads
by Sir Chucky
Summary: Sarah is struggling to regain her memories and her life. Chuck has just found out there has been one man pulling the strings since day one. Before Bryce sent the intersect and after Quinn was killed, there is one puppet master.
1. Oh My God, We're Back Again

**A/N This is my first attempt at fanfiction. I have written other things, but fanfic is all new to me. To be honest I am really new to "Chuck". I discovered it about 3 months ago (Thank you Netflix!) and have watched the entire series at least 3 times, some of my favorite episodes a few more times than that. I was not excited as to how the series ended, so here is what I think could have happened. Again I am really, really late to the alternate ending party and there have been some great stories already written, but here ya go. Please leave reviews, opinions are welcome. Oh yeah, I think I am supposed to say this I DO NOT OWN CHUCK, if I did there would already be 2 T.V. specials and 3 movies, oh well.**

" _Hi I'm Chuck. Here are a few things that you may need to know."_

" _You know Morgan… has this crazy idea." Chuck said_

" _What is it?" Sarah asked._

" _He thinks that, with one kiss, you'll remember everything."_

" _One Magical kiss?"_

" _Yeah, I know it's…"_

" _Chuck?"_

" _Yeah?"_

" _Kiss me"_

 _And now…_

 **Chuck vs Rivers and Roads**

 **Chapter 1 - Oh my God, we're back again**

The Kiss had been sweet, tinder, and somewhat passionate, and maybe just a little familiar but it had not been "magical", and as they slowly separated Chuck could see it in her eyes. As his head dropped in defeat, Sarah placed her hands on each side of his face raising it so she could look into his eyes. "I see why I would have fallen for you" she said quietly, "you're a great kisser" Chuck smiled a sad smile and shrugged "So I guess you are leaving?" he asked not wanting to hear the answer, but needing to know all the same.

"No."

Chuck sat up straighter, still looking into her intoxicating eyes and began to smile. "I want to stay, at least for a while. I want to be that person in your stories, she seems like the person I have always wanted to be; I want to be the woman you loved." Sarah let at a big sigh and grabbed Chuck's hands and continued "Chuck, you do realize it may never happen, I don't want to hurt you anymore… and to be honest, I don't want to be hurt either. Chuck I just ask that you don't rush this if it happens, then it will happen, but I am willing to try." Chuck pulled her in for a hug; he found it a little stiff but waved it off. "That is all I am asking is that we just try." He said.

They both rose to their feet and started walking back to their cars. "Chuck, I need to run by your apartment, I believe most of my clothes are there" Sarah said as they reached the parking area of the beach. "Where are you going to stay? We… ah… I… have the extra room, you can stay there." He said almost pleading, he coughed I little to try and hide the emotion in his voice. "Chuck," Sarah began with a sympathizing voice, "I just can't, not right now."

He slowly nodded his head to show he understood, and simply said "OK" and he got in his car and she followed him back to the apartment.

 **Echo Park**

 **Burbank, California**

As Chuck and Sarah entered the courtyard of the place she once called home, she was searching for anything that may cause a spark in her memory, unfortunately there was nothing. She slowly walked to the fountain and stared at the water, looking deep, hoping for anything. She so desperately wanted to be that woman Chuck had told her so much about, but she could not grasp it, it seemed like she was hanging off a cliff by her finger tips and the rope to save her was just out of her reach. As they both stood in the court yard not talking, they heard a door open and looked up to see Devon and Ellie step out of their apartment. Their hands were full of boxes to load on the moving van. As Sarah stepped up quickly to help, Ellie remembered how ruthless Sarah had treated her just a few days ago, and she ducked behind Devon. Sarah saw the look of fear on Ellie's face; she took another step toward them and opened her mouth to say something, when Devon cut her off. "Stay right there" he said holding out his hand as to signal her to stop, "I don't want you near my wife, and I don't want you talking to her."

"Devon!" Chuck yelled with aggravation.

"Chuck, how could you bring her here Bro? You know what she did. She pulled a gun on Ellie… that is YOUR sister." Devon was confused to how Chuck was so easy to forgive that. "Devon, you know it was all Quinn, you know all of this, and I have told you and told you. For a smart guy you can be so dumb." Chuck had never said anything like this to Devon, but his emotions were on edge, his filter was gone and everything was starting to come out.

"Stop" Sarah said, "I'm just here to pick up a few things and then I am gone, I will not allow myself to be the reason for grief in this family." She turned to Chuck and said "You will not fight with your family over me, you understand. So just give me a minute and I will be out of here." Sarah turned to walk to the apartment when she heard Ellie tell her to wait. Sarah turned and Ellie walked up to her, she was getting so close that out of instinct Sarah almost went into a defensive stance.

"What do you remember?" Ellie asked as she got closer.

"She is remembering some things." Chuck interjected in attempt defuse the situation he had created.

"Nothing," Sarah said "I have feelings, a little like déjà vu, but nothing more than that."

"What are your plans?"

"For now I am going to stay in Burbank, at my hotel room, that is why I need my things." Sarah answered. Then Ellie did something that no one standing in that courtyard expected, she reached out and hugged Sarah. Sarah was stiff at first but then she let herself relax and hugged Ellie back. "Sarah," Ellie said "I forgive you." Ellie then pulled back and looked Sarah in the eyes and said "Don't hurt him again." Sarah gave a weak grin and nodded. Ellie turned to Devon and said "we got to finish if we are ever going to get out of here." And she picked up her boxes and headed for the van.

Chuck and Sarah headed into what use to be their apartment, as she stepped in she got that déjà vu feeling again. She just stood at the door looking around; she saw glimpses of something in her mind of items flying at her and her knocking them back at Chuck. "Did we every fight right here?" she asked. Chuck got a small smile on his face and told her about how she had tried to steal his computer, before she knew he had the intersect in his head. "Sarah," he said while grabbing her shoulders "this is a real memory, a memory of us." She gave a weak smile and shrugged and walked to Chuck's room. "How are you not more enthusiastic, Sarah?" Chuck asked. "I know you are remembering."

"Chuck, don't get so excited. I have had one… ONE, memory and it is of us fighting." Sarah was sounding aggravated, so Chuck eased off.

"I'm sorry; I know I am trying to rush things. I will not do it again. I didn't mean to upset you" Chuck sat on the edge of the bed and watched Sarah pack her suitcase. "I got what I need for now I will get the rest later." Chuck started to say something, but thought better of it and just nodded.

Chuck sat on his couch; in front of him on the coffee table was an unopen bottle of Johnny Walker Black that Casey had given him before he had left. Chuck was so conflicted, he was happy Sarah had decided to stay, he was happy she was remembering some small memories, but he wanted HIS Sarah back and he wanted it right now. He reached forward and broke the seal on the bottle and began to pour.

"Good afternoon Agent Bartowski." A man's voice said. Chuck looked up at the T.V. monitor and saw a dashing man in a black suit. His brown hair was cut short, almost in a military cut. The man looked young, but Chuck could see the age in his blue eyes. At that moment Chuck flashed.

 _David Webb newly appointed director of the CIA. Assigned to Operation Treadstone, and Operation Blackbriar. Alias redacted all other information redacted._

Chuck did not know what to think he had never seen this much information redacted from the Intersect, but at this moment in time he really didn't care.

"Didn't you get the memo Director Webb; I haven't been an agent for a while now." Chuck said. He put down the bottle and turned his full attention to the T.V. screen, thinking to himself I know I disabled all those monitors.

"Hmmm" the man was in deep thought "I see the Intersect is working fine. Is this 2.0 or another version?"

Chuck looked down at his hands in his lap, "It is basically 2.0 but with a few tweaks here and there."

"Such as?" The man asked with genuine interest.

Chuck wasn't sure if he should give up any information on the Intersect, but this was the director of the CIA, what was the worst thing they could do, lock him up in a hole, take the intersect out of him, maybe kill him? The way Chuck was felling right now, all of those would be an improvement.

"The flashes are smoother, it is like bringing up a memory, and I don't look like I am having a seizure anymore. Plus there are a few more skills that were added into this one, but other than that it is just like the 2.0" with that Chuck sat back and waited for the man on the screen to speak.

"Agent Bartowski, may I call you Chuck?" the man asked. Chuck just nodded and made a gesture with his hand indicating that it would be okay. "Chuck, my name is David Webb as I sure you know" the man continued, "and I am the new director of the CIA." Even though he already knew, those words made Chuck sigh and sink deeper into his couch. The man gave a weak, but knowing grin to Chuck's reaction. "Chuck, believe me when I say, I know what it is like to be chased by the CIA. I, like you, was set up by them, but now I am the director and we… I… need your help. Some things have come up and I need you, I need the intersect. We are in more peril, then Quinn ever brought… than Shaw ever brought." He said. Chuck just sat there not knowing what to say, his mouth had gone dry and the words just stuck. After a few very uncomfortable moments Chuck finally found his voice.

"Director Webb, I have given everything to the CIA, I have been kidnapped, tortured, I have been shot, shot at some more, and now I may have lost the only woman I have ever truly loved. And you want me to go back to that!" Chuck felt the anguish of the past few days coming out, he needed to vent and Director Webb, was as good a target as anyone.

"SPIES!" he screamed "Cost me my childhood, they took my mother, killed my father. Spies have tried to take my sister, my brother-in-law, and even my best friend away from me. They ruined my college career. I lost my first girlfriend, my chance for a normal life and it was all because of spies. Forgive me Director, but I have given enough." He picked up the bottle of Johnny Walker, looked at it in his hand then threw it across the room, smashing it against the wall. He calmed himself as he stared at the spot where the bottle hit, and as he watched the brown liquid flow down his wall he said "And now they have cost me a real good bottle of whiskey."

Chuck let himself just fall back down on the couch and put his face in his hands, "What about Carmichael Industries? I want to get that up and running again as an electronic security company. I can't do that and be a spy." Chuck was using every excuse he could think of not to be drag back into the spy life.

"We will back Carmichael Industries, which will be your new cover. The CIA will get it up and going and even staff it for you. There is just one thing; you can't tell anyone you are back, not your family, not Grimms, and especially not Agent Walker. All of these people are in danger and only you I fear can stop it." David Webb, who had been leaning back in his desk chair, leaned forward, and look directly into the monitor, "Chuck", the Director said in a soft understanding voice. A voice that Chuck was almost shocked to hear coming from a man in his position, "I understand the sacrifices your family has made for this country. I understand the sacrifices you yourself have made, and if I had any other way I would do it, but we need you. Chuck we know who has been pulling all the strings, the one who has been behind it all, behind Fulcrum, behind The Ring. He was behind Shaw, Decker, Roark and he is the one who sent Quinn after the Intersect with the instructions to destroy you. Chuck believe me when I tell you that everyone you know is in danger, Ellie and Devon in Chicago, your mother in Detroit, Col. Casey and Ms. Verbanski in Dresden, even Morgan Grimms and Alex McHugh and… Agent Walker… Chuck, Sarah is in grave danger.

Chuck looked at the man on the T.V. screen and sighed, "I guess I have no choice then do I?"

"Welcome back Agent Bartowski."

 **Maison23**

 **Room 832**

Sarah walked slowly toward her bed and fell face first on to it. It had been a very long emotional day, a day she just wanted to end. She rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling, contemplating her next move. She had promised Chuck she would stay in Burbank, but is that really the smart move. She had loved hearing all the stories of their missions and adventures, but she could not remember them. Sure some things sounded vaguely familiar, but was that enough to hang her hopes on? The one thing she knew that she needed was time. Time to think, time to get her life in some type of order; but more than anything she needed time to just be alone. Just as that thought had gone through her mind, there was a knock on the door. "Damn it Chuck" she thought as she walked to the door. Sarah swung the door open and with a very angry tone said "Chuck I said I needed…" Sarah came to a quick halt when she saw the person at her door.

"Hello Agent Walker" The short red headed General said.

"Sorry General Beckman, I thought you were someone else." The general smiled as she stepped into the hotel room, "He won't let you rest huh?"

"No nothing like that, he has actually been very understanding," Sarah admitted "So what can I do for you General?" Beckman knew Walker wasn't one to mince words so she got right to the point. "We know who has been behind it all, Sarah. From the day Larkin stole the intersect to the day you killed Quinn, it has been one person. I need you back in the field." Sarah stumbled back and sat on the edge of her bed and whispered "one person" so softly Beckman had trouble hearing it. Sarah regained her composure and said "The CIA has burned me, I can't go back."

"CIA, no, but the NSA, you have a place with us." The General said. Sarah was torn, she had promised Chuck to stay and try, but this could be what she needs. "Sarah, Chuck… Chuck is in real danger here. They will be coming for him like they never have before." Sarah looked up and said "I'm in. I will work alone on this. I don't want an asset or partner, this is just me."

The General nodded in agreement and said "Since Sarah Walker is burned with the CIA, should you use another name?" Sarah thought "I could be Sam again, or maybe Lisa for a change I guess, no… I am not going to be Jenny ever again… No, I will keep Sarah, it just seems right."

"Sarah Bartowski?" The General asked. Sarah blushed when she heard that name. Why does people calling me that affect me so much, she thought to herself.

Sarah looked at the General and said "No… ah… maybe… ah… no no, not yet."

The general gave a sad smile "You leave in two hours Sarah, and you will be briefed on the plane."

"General, who is it, who is the one person?"

"You will be briefed on the plane."

 **Echo Park**

 **Burbank, California**

Chuck was still staring at the man on his T.V. letting everything that just happened to him settle in. "Chuck. I need you in France, your plane leaves in two hours; you will be briefed on all the operational aspects in the air."

"Director, who is it?"

"On the plane Chuck, Oh there is one thing, I understand that you do lack the killer instinct, for lack of a better phrase. Is there any one that you trust that you can partner with?"

Chucked smirked at the Director's less than subtle way of saying that he will not kill, "Other than my regular team? There is one, but trust is a strong word for our relationship. Carina Miller is the only one I can think of. Please don't tell Sarah, when she gets her memory back, she would kill me." Webb smiled and checked his files and said, "She is still attached to the CIA, she will meet you in France. Good luck Chuck!" And with that the screen went black.

 **Maison23**

 **Outside Room 832**

Chuck stood at Sarah's door, going over in his mind what he was going to say to her. Here he was preparing to leave after he had begged her to stay. As he raised his hand to knock on the door, his phone began to ring. He looked and saw the beautiful smile of Sarah on his phone.

"Hey, believe it or not I am standing right outside your door."

"I'm not there Chuck, that is what I am calling to tell you, I need to leave for a while. Please don't get upset, I will be back soon I promise, please believe me, I just need to go away for a week or so." Sarah said all of that in one breath so Chuck would not interrupt her. She needed him to know she was coming back, before he broke down.

"Well actually that was why I was coming over, to tell you that I needed to leave for a few days." With those words Sarah exploded. "Where do you think you are going? You can't leave. You need to stay here." Sarah surprised herself at the volume of her words. But she was worried about him, he was in danger. Why does this matter so much to her, she thought to herself. "Chuck, I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell, I am just worried I guess."

"It's ok Sarah; I just need to fly to the east coast to meet with potential clients for Carmichael Industries. I am still going to make that work."

"Just be careful Chuck. Watch your back ok?"

"I will Sarah, I promise. So where are you headed?"

"Ah… Carina called and wants me to meet her in Cabo. I think that the relaxation will be good for me. It might help my memory." She threw that last bit in, to help sell Chuck on the idea.

"Yeah, that will be nice… Carina asked you to come?" Chuck asked.

"Yep… she thought it would be a good idea." Sarah said trying to sound chipper.

"Ok then, would you like to have dinner when we both get back." Chuck asked, his mind racing a mile a minute, trying to figure out what she was up to.

"That would be great." This time she wasn't lying, for the first time in this whole phone conversation she told the truth. "Bye Chuck, please be careful."

"Just going to see clients, but I will. Bye Sarah, hurry home. Chuck hated lying to Sarah about seeing clients, but hearing her reaction to telling her he was just going to see clients, he now saw it was a good idea. His only worry now was what she was up to.

 **Bob Hope Airport**

 **Burbank, California**

Chuck walked up the steps of the Gulfstream G600, he was headed to his seat when he saw her setting there. A look of surprise came to his face, and then he smiled.

"Hey Chuckles!"

"I thought we were meeting in France." Chuck said as he sat down next to Carina.

"I was already in California, so here I am, I hear you asked for me personally. Am I finally getting to you" She said in a sexy voice.

"Yep, just like poison ivy. What do you know about all of this?"

"Not much, but I am tired of this. Chuck… they hurt my friend, so one way or another it all ends."

"I agree."

 **Next: Two teams, two planes, two briefings, one name.**


	2. Happiness Is A Warm Gun

**A/N Wow… I am overwhelmed by the response I have gotten. All of the very nice reviews have been appreciated. It has been said many times, but it is true, it is easier to write if you know someone is reading. Ok enough of this, I know you all want to know who "The Big Bad" is as fezzywhigg so eloquently put it, so here ya go. Oh I don't own Chuck.**

 **Chapter 2 – Happiness Is A Warm Gun**

 **Bob Hope Airport**

 **Burbank, California**

Chuck was getting impatient waiting for the plane to leave, he was ready, ready to go, ready to find out who has ruined his life, ready to find the person that is so sadistic that he had orchestrated Chuck's whole family's demise. Chuck couldn't stand it any longer and practically jumped out of his seat. He had to do something, so he began exploring the Gulfstream, looking in cabinets, under seats, just wherever he could think to look. Thing was the more he looked the more bummed he was getting that he had to get rid of his own private jet. Just as he was opening the last storage compartment his phone rang. Chuck looked and saw his sister's picture on his phone.

"Hey El."

"Chuck, where are you?"

"Funny you should ask, I am on a Gulfstream headed to Europe."

"Chuck, what are you up to?" Chuck heard the suspicious tone in his sister's voice and knew what she was thinking.

"No, No nothing like that," Chuck blurted out "I got a lead on a potential client for Carmichael Industries."

"Really?" She asked still sounding suspicious.

"Yep, I really think it is going to work." And just like that I am lying to Ellie again he thought to himself.

"Okay, if you say so. Anyway the real reason I called," she said and then let out a big sigh "Chuck I lied to you, the main reason Devon and I are moving to Chicago is because they have the best neurology department in the world. I am going to fix this, Chuck. It was our family who brought the intersect into the world, and I am going to get it out. I WILL fix this."

Chuck heard her words, comprehending them, now that was a different story. Can she actually do it, can she help Sarah? He thought to himself.

"Chuck, did you hear me? I. Will. Fix. This." She said emphasizing each word.

Chuck couldn't take any more, he could not continue lie to Ellie "Ellie, listen the real…" Just as Chuck was going to tell Ellie the whole truth, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Carina staring straight into his eyes. The look in her eyes was not anger, but compassion, and then she gently shook her head no. Chuck understood, as much as he needed to tell Ellie, there were just as many reasons not too.

Chuck continued on "The real reason… you're moving sounds great, I hope you can do it. Listen my plane is about to take off. Bye Ellie… I love you."

"Love you too, Chuck." Ellie heard his words, but she knew something else was there. She threw her phone on the table and yelled "He is spying again!"

Chuck slowly made his way back to his seat, lost in thought. He sat down hard in his seat and fastened his seatbelt. He then turned to Carina and with a determined look in his eye he said "I'm Ready."

 **Taxi Cab**

 **In Route to LAX**

Sarah sat in the back of the Yellow Taxi, not really paying attention to anything. The taxi driver had tried to strike up a conversation, but she never answered him, so he gave up. As she stared out the window watching the city pass by, her mind wandered back to the beach. The same stretch of beach where she and Chuck had been some hours ago, but it was different, it was her talking to Chuck.

She pictured Chuck and her sitting on the beach she heard her own words in her mind,

" _Need you to do one more thing for me." Sarah said_

" _Yeah?" Chuck replied softly_

" _Trust me, Chuck"_

"Trust me, Chuck" she whispered to herself.

"Did you say something ma'am?" The driver asked as he looked at her in the rearview mirror.

"No… how much longer?" she asked changing the subject.

"Oh… about 15 minutes." He replied.

Sarah settled back into the seat and stared out the window.

 **Los Angeles International Airport**

 **Los Angeles, California**

Once Sarah boarded the Bombardier Challenger 650, she quickly made her way to the restroom. When she returned to her seat, she had changed to her all black "Cat's Squad" uniform. She thought this is the best thing she could wear to sneak around at night, and besides Chuck likes it. She stopped in her tracks and thought to herself with a hint of a smile, Chuck likes it. She made her way to her seat and fastened her seatbelt, and stared out the window waiting to take off.

 **Somewhere over the**

 **Continental United States**

Chuck paced back and forth from the front to the back of the jet. "It has been two hours, when are they going to start?"

"Calm down Chuckles, they will start soon. Just please sit down, or by god I am going to throw you down and sit on you… although that might not be so bad." Before Chuck could respond to Carina's flirtatious banter, the viewing screen beeped and the image of Director David Webb appeared. "Good afternoon Agent Bartowski, and Agent Miller thank you for joining us. Agent Miller is it safe to assume you have been briefed on Agent Bartowski's special abilities?"

"Yes sir, I was told that he was the intersect, but now knowing this, a lot of things now make since," she said looking over at Chuck. "Director I am here to help, but just so we are on the same page, my main purpose is to take out the person who has hurt Chuck and Sarah, so don't tell me to bring this person in alive, because it is not going to happen. Sir, all I want from you is a termination order. Anything else and you will be sanctioning me for failing to follow your orders when this is all over." Carina said as she leaned forward in her seat. The director looked at the harden agent and smiled, "Agent Miller you will get your termination order; I need for you two to clean up this mess. This has gone on for far too long and has to stop now."

"Yes sir," she said with a small grin.

"Ok down to business" the director said "I told you earlier that it was one man behind all of this. That man's name is John Lydon." The director said while reading his notes. Chuck furrowed his brow and shifted his eyes back and forth. "Director, I did not flash on that name. He is not in the intersect." Chuck said in confusion.

"That is because he did not exist until about a year ago. Somehow the man got a hold of a blank identification and then reinvented himself so to speak. You may know him better as Hartley Winterbottom, or Alexei Volkoff." Chuck felt his knees buckle, he couldn't breathe, his chest was hurting, somehow he made it to a seat and sat down hard. "How… How is this possible?" Chuck whispered "No… No… this isn't right. It can't be." Chuck was beginning to shake; he was just a minute away from losing his mind. Carina kneeled beside him and took his hand in hers "Chuck… CHUCK!" she yelled. Chuck batted his eyes and shook his head, as if he was bringing himself out of a deep sleep. Chuck raised his eyes to the director and cleared his throat, "Sir, how is this possible?"

The director sat back and let out a long sigh "Apparently, the intersect that was uploaded into him never worked. We have determined that after he realized that it didn't work, he saw all the possibilities and he became Volkoff anyway. He built up his Volkoff Industries, and became the biggest and most dangerous arms dealer in the world. Once he was captured and he found out that we were going to try and take out the corrupt intersect, he played alone and became Hartley once again and was released from prison." Chuck had his face in his hands, shaking his head, quietly repeating the "no, no, no" mantra.

"Wait," Chuck shot up straight with a realization "Hartley gave all of Volkoff's assets to Sarah and me, how is he operating any type of an organization?"

"We checked into that," Webb said "it appears that he gave you about half of all the assets, that way it looked like an astronomical amount, but he still had the other half to work with. Chuck I know this is tough to hear, but we need to get on with the briefing." Chuck nodded and the Director continued.

"About 24 hours ago, Lydon slipped up and facial recognition picked him up in Marseille, France. Chuck, you and Carina will pose as newlyweds; we have you a room at the InterContinental where Lydon is staying. Your aliases will be Irving and Michelle Miller". In spite of himself Chuck let out a little laugh.

"What?" Carina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just as I had always figured, if you ever got married you'd make your husband take your last name". The punch to his arm hurt. As Chuck rubbed his arm he let out a loud sigh and said "Well I almost made it 5 years without having to use the name Irving as a cover."

The Director laughed and then said "Chuck, you had mentioned that the version of the Intersect that you have now has some different skills loaded in it, what are they?"

"Some different fighting styles, emergency medicine, more languages, and… and seduction techniques," Chuck said blushing "Roan Montgomery developed it. He told me once it was a skill I needed, I didn't know they had actually put it in the updates until I uploaded the intersect Quinn had."

"You will have to show me that one Chuck," Carina said laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.

"That's… That's interesting" the Director said "I suggest that you both get some rest, I want you to hit the ground running when you get to Marseille."

"Yes, Sir," both agents said in unison.

The briefing now over and plans discussed, Chuck stood, put a hand on Carina's shoulder and gave her a weak smile. He then went to the back of the jet sat on the floor and broke down.

 **At that Same Moment**

 **In Another Part of the Skies**

 **Over the Continental United States**

Sarah Walker sat in her seat, she could not keep still, she was squirming nervously, and it wasn't that she didn't like to fly, fact is she loved it. Something just felt off, something was missing; she just could not put her finger on it. Sarah realized that she had been flying for over two hours now, she wondered if she was getting close to the east coast. Her thoughts then went to Chuck. At that moment the viewing screen came to life and Sarah saw General Beckman setting behind her desk.

"Good after noon Agent Walker," the General said bringing Sarah out of her deep thoughts.

"General" Sarah said "Now is it time for me to learn the man's name, or do I have to wait longer." Beckman could tell Sarah had grown impatient, she also knew not to beat around the bush so she got right to the briefing.

"Sarah, did you read the mission files on Alexei Volkoff?"

"Yes ma'am. I know he is actually Hartley Winterbottom and was uploaded with a corrupt intersect and became this Alexei Volkoff."

"Well" Beckman said "there is a little more to it than that." The General then went through the whole story that Director Webb had related to Chuck and Carina. When she had finished, Sarah was just setting with her hands folded in her lap. The General knew she was trying to sort through all the new information she had just received.

"General," Sarah finally said "how do we know this Lydon is Volkoff?"

"At a price… we had set up an undercover buy with Lydon using MI6 agent Cole Barker. So when it went down Lydon recognized Agent Barker and shot him. Barker was able to avoid capture for a while and sent the video of Lydon, which is how we know who he is."

"What about Agent Barker?" Sarah asked

"He didn't make it Sarah."

"I have read the reports on the missions that our team did with him, he was a good agent." Sarah saw in her mind a man aiming a gun at her and Barker knocking her to the ground, he himself being shot in the arm. Sarah shook her head slightly in attempt to remove the images. "How did Lydon get the blank identifications?" Sarah said wanting to move on with the briefing.

"Chuck Bartowski gave them to him."

"WHAT?!" Sarah shouted "why in the hell would Chuck give him blank identifications?"

"To save you, this part was not in the mission files, mainly because this mission was not CIA sanctioned; it was totally off the books. Sarah, it was at your rehearsal dinner, Vivian Volkoff had poisoned you with thorium. The only way Chuck could convince Vivian to give him the antidote was to give her and her father the blank identifications. Once you were well and out of the hospital you and Chuck were married." The general threw that last bit of info, hoping to stir a memory.

"So if he was spotted in France," Sarah said ignoring the last comment "why am I going to Germany?"

"We have a team in France; but we believe that his headquarters are in Hamburg Germany. If we miss him in France, then we believe he will go to there."

"Then he will be all mine." Sarah said. Beckman went on with the briefing giving Sarah all the logistics of the mission. After getting the information that she needed, Sarah got a worried look on her face and looked up a Beckman and asked "General, does Chuck know this?"

"Yes, he was briefed on it, why?"

"General, you need to put him in a bunker, somewhere. If Lydon doesn't come after Chuck then Chuck will go after him. You have to protect Chuck, General!"

"It has been taken care of, Sarah."

As the meeting came to the end Beckman leaned in close to the monitor and said "Sarah, I have not told you, but I am sorry all of this has happen to you. All I can say now is good luck Agent Walker."

"Thank you ma'am," Sarah replied and the screen went blank. Sarah took a deep breath, her mind reeling from all the new information. She was having that feeling of déjà vu again. She sat back and stared out the window.

 **NSA Headquarters**

 **Washington D.C.**

General Beckman sat back in her chair, and sighed, and as she was reaching for a shot of bourbon her monitor beeped and Director Webb was on screen.

"Well, how did yours go" Webb asked.

"About how I figured, I think I saw a sign or two of recognition in her eyes, but no full memories, that she told me of. I trust Walker to get the job done; she has always been a good agent. I am just hoping we did the right thing splitting them up this way. How was yours? Did you tell Chuck about Agent Barker?"

"No I didn't inform them of Agent Barker's death. Chuck was already taking the news of Lydon's true identity very hard; I actually thought he was going to lose it at one point. Luckily Carina stepped in and brought him back. After that he got back into the meeting and was throwing out ideas, so I think he will be alright. They just have to stop this man."

"I agree Director, I want this dealt with and this chapter closed. These people deserve to be happy."

"General I have a feeling none of these people will be happy until they are standing over Lydon's body with a warm gun."

 **Next: Chuck, Carina, and a blast from the past… oh yeah the bad guy too!**

 **A/N I am sure you've all figured out who David Webb is. I left some pretty big clues in the first chapter, but do you know who John Lydon is?**


	3. Manipulator

**A/N Hey everyone, hope everyone is having a great weekend. Well, here is chapter 3. Chapter 4 is done, just doing some polishing. Working on Chapter 5… things are getting dark, maybe I should not write when I am in a bad mood. lol As always please leave a review, if you have a question please ask. And of course I Don't Own Chuck.**

 **Chapter 3 - Manipulator**

 **Marseille Provence Airport**

It had been a very long flight. Chuck tried but was unable to sleep for more than an hour. When the jet finally landed he was ready to get off the plane, he had never been all that claustrophobic before, but right now he could feel the plane's walls closing in on him. As both Chuck and Carina reached the bottom of the stairs to the jet, Carina grabbed Chuck and pulled him away from everyone. "Chuck, Sarah once told me that you refuse to use a gun that you won't shoot another person. I need to know you have my back."

"This is a different game now, No, I don't want to seriously hurt anyone, and yes, I hate guns, but I will do what I have to do. I've got your back, Carina." Chuck said. Carina smiled and said, "Let's go to work, Irving." Chuck rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.

 **InterContinental Marseille - Hotel Dieu**

 **Marseille, France**

The concierge rushed over to lead Chuck and Carina to the check in counter. Ahh... Monsieur Miller, welcome to the InterContinental," the man said with an accent that was so strong that Chuck feared that the intersect would kick in any minute. "I see we have the bridle suite reserved for you and your lovely wife," the man continued. Chuck was nervous, this was taking too long and he felt like a sitting duck out here in the open of the lobby. "Yes, and can you hurry up a bit, I really want to get to that room," Chuck said while pulling Carina into his arms. She caught on to what he was doing and started giggling. Chuck took this opportunity to check the lobby and that is when he saw her.

"Aww crap!" he said under his breath and while trying to hide his face he pulled Carina around to face him. He mouthed the words "I'm sorry" to her and crashed his lips to hers and began kissing her. Carina's surprise soon wore off and she wrapped her arms around Chuck and began to kiss him back. The two stayed in this position for several seconds until Chuck heard the concierge clear his throat. "Umm… sorry about that," Chuck said to the concierge and grabbed the key card and after checking the lobby again headed for the elevator. Chuck then leaned in close to Carina and whispered: "I am so sorry about that I will explain in the room." Carina just nodded and then ran her fingers over her lips and thought "Damn".

Once Chuck entered the room he pulled out his laptop and began hacking into the hotel's security system and the main computer to check on the names that are registered.

"Okay, Chuckles what was that all about? Not that I am complaining , Sarah was right you are a good kisser."

"What… Did she talk about that? Anyway, I saw Jill Roberts in the lobby; she was walking to the elevators and I could not take the chance of her recognizing me. What is she doing here? There has to be some connection, this is too coincidental, two of my so called arch enemies here at the same time."

"Chuck, you're spiraling." Chuck just smiled at Carina's words; he remembered all the times that Sarah had told him that, in an attempt to bring him back into the moment, Sarah must have talked about me a lot.

"Jill Roberts… I know that name," Carina said trying to get Chuck back on task.

"My ex-girlfriend from college, Fulcrum agent, tried to kill me and Sarah a couple years ago."

"Oh yeah… Sarah told me about her, she REALLY wanted to kick her ass. How can she be here? Wasn't she in a CIA prison somewhere?"

"Ah… yeah, I kind of let her go, an action I'm now beginning regret. Finally! I am in their systems." Carina came over to where Chuck was working and watched the surveillance videos. Chuck was able to back it up and watch Jill get off on the fourth floor. "Looks like room 4012," Carina said, "Want me to go and check it out?"

"She is in the room right now, how would you do that?"

"I could tranq her, then wipe her memory." She said in a matter of fact tone.

"Okay, let's call that plan B," Chuck said "if she hasn't come out of her room in an hour we will do that. Right now I want to search for Lydon." Chuck began searching the names on the register, hoping he would flash on a name. He was on his third pass over the names when he finally saw it, Chuck had forgotten the Lydon's name was not in the intersect, but there it was plain as day. He wasn't hiding, Chuck thought, so maybe he doesn't know his alias has been blown. "Carina, I found him, he is in room 5010." Chuck said with excitement and then bowed his head and whispered "I don't know what to do now. Do I just bust in and kill him, or do I wait? What do I do?"

"We need to find out if he is even here, first," Carina said more to herself than to Chuck. The two decided to take turns watching the hotel's security feed. As Carina sat down at the computer Chuck made his way to the window. As he looked out over the city of Marseille, his mind began to race. Had Hartley sent Shaw to kill his father? Hartley knew who Frost was the whole time, what was his angle there? Chuck deflated as he answered his own question, to torment his father. Had Hartley arranged the red test on Shaw's wife to turn Shaw? How deep did this go? Chuck began to pace around the room. Carina started to say something, but remembered what Sarah had said, "When he goes into those types of deep thoughts, I step back and let him process." So that is what she did. Chuck finally stopped his pacing and looked over to Carina, assuming he had been in thought for nearly the whole hour and said "She hasn't come out yet? You ready for plan B?" Carina smiled and said, "I am so ready for plan B, but it has only been 10 minutes." Chuck just cocked his head a little and gave a small grin and said: "I guess I am getting better, my pity parties aren't lasting as long as they once did." Carina gave him a small smile and continued to watch the video feed.

The hour was quickly coming to an end and Carina was gearing up to enter Jill's room when Chuck saw her come out and head for the elevator. "She just left, so go in stealth." He said looking over his shoulder at Carina then he added: "and stay safe."

"Yes, sir boss man." Chuck watched as Carina entered into the room through the hotel's feed and once in the room he switched to her body cam. Carina was efficient and had searched the room in less than 15 minutes. Both were disappointed that nothing turned up in her room. Carina had found some forged Identifications for a Rebecca Braswell, but that was the only thing that was even slightly suspicious. As Carina left Jill's room, Chuck sat back in his chair and began to consider that her being here may be a coincidence after all, but he had to know. Chuck went to the closet and pulled out his dark blue Armani suit and quickly dressed. When Carina walked in the room she looked him up and down and asked: "And just where the hell do you think you are going?"

"Jill went down to the restaurant; I am going to talk to her."

"Chuck! You can't do that. What if someone connected to Lydon sees you?"

"Listen," Chuck said looking at Carina "she is here; whether she is here working for Lydon or this is just the coincidence from hell. I have to know."

"Damn it, Chuck," Carina sighed and resigned to the fact that he was right. "Ok, but put in your earwig, and the safe word is… is…"

"Pineapple," Chuck says with a smile.

 **Restaurant VINONEO**

 **Marseille, France**

Jill Roberts sat near the back of the restaurant with her back against a wall; old habits die hard she had mused when she sat down. She didn't think anyone was looking for her, but why take a chance. She had her head buried in the menu when she heard his voice, "Hello Jill, or is it, Rebecca?" She didn't even have to look up, she knew that voice, she once loved that voice, or she had thought she did.

"Hi Chuck," Jill said as she peered over her menu, her beautiful brown eyes locked onto his hazel ones. Chuck held out his hands, palms facing her and said, "I just want to talk, may I sit?" She just nodded and he sat down placed his elbows on the table, interlocked his fingers, and rested his chin on his hands and said with a big smile "So, what brings you to France?"

Jill looked at him like he had lost his mind and then laughed, god it was nice to laugh, and she couldn't remember the last time she just laughed. What was it about this incredibly charming nerd? "Well I can't stay in the States, so I have become European. When you let me leave… that day at the Fulcrum headquarters, well I have been on the run ever since never stay too long in one place." Chuck saw she was fidgeting; she was playing with something on her hand. It was then he noticed it was the ring he had given her to get money to survive on. Jill saw that he had seen it and blushed. "I know… I know it is silly, but you gave it to me, and I know why, but still… you gave it to me." It was Chuck's turn to blush.

"Ok lover boy get back to business, we are out in the open remember," Carina said into his earwig. Chuck pulled at his earlobe. "Why are you here, Jill?" Chuck said with a more serious tone in his voice.

"No reason, in particular, I am just here."

"I just find it very coincidental that you and John Lydon are here at the same time?"

"Who is John Lydon?" Jill said in a voice to indicate that she really did not know where this conversation was going.

"Ok then," Chuck said, "how about Hartley Winterbottom?" Jill just looked at Chuck with a confused look on her face and shook her head slowly as to say "no".

"Ok then how about Alexei Volkoff, you ever hear of him." Chuck's voice had become hard, he was becoming angry and he wanted Jill to know it. The mere mention of Volkoff's name sent a chill down Jill's spine. Her shoulders dropped and her mouth opened slightly in shock.

"Chuck, what are you talking about Volkoff was captured, he is in prison, I remember hearing about it."

"No Jill he is not in prison, he is out and using his new name, John Lydon. He is trying to rebuild his empire. Jill, I know… I know it was him. He started Fulcrum, he started the Ring. He had my father killed…

"Chuck… Calm down." Carina whispered. Chuck took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked back into Jill's eyes and asked: "Did you know?"

"Chuck I swear, I didn't. I promise you." Chuck leaned back and contemplated her response; he pulled his earlobe again and let out a breath. "I believe you," he said with a small smile.

"Chuck, Volkoff is very dangerous, you know this. Do you really want to open that door?" Chuck could see there was what appeared to be a concern in her eyes, but time for concern had long since passed. "Jill I am not going to open that door, I'm going to kick the damn thing down. Jill, I wish you the best, I hope you find happiness" chuck said as he stood, but then he leaned over the table, placing both hands on either side and stared into Jill's face, "if I find out you are lying to me, I will end you." Chuck stood and walked out of the restaurant. Jill sat there in shock; her hold on Chuck isn't as strong as she had promised. She had promised to deliver him to her room, but it looks like blondie has him all tied up in knots. Jill then pulled a phone out of her purse and hit the redial. The call was answered after only one ring "I failed; go to the alternate plan… yes, I know I promised… yes, I know… I said I know…ok, I'll be at headquarters tomorrow." Jill threw the phone under the table, got up and walked out the door, on the run again, she thought to herself.

 **InterContinental Marseille - Hotel Dieu**

 **Marseille, France**

Carina and Chuck were walking through the lobby of the hotel, "well what do you think?" Carina asked.

"She is lying; there was just something not genuine about what she was saying. And what about that ring, why would she continue to wear it? That is just weird or she was trying to set me up, make me think she still cares for me."

"Should we grab her and question her harder?" Carina said with a little smirk.

"Not yet, let's just watch her for now, she may prove useful."

Carina agreed and the two continued to walk across the lobby, just as they were approaching the elevators Carina grabbed Chuck's arm and pulled him behind a large plant. "What is ya doing there Carina?" Chuck said not understanding the move. "Look," she said pointing at a man walking toward the hotel exit, "Isn't that Lydon… Volkoff… What are we calling him?"

"Lydon, for right now, and yes I think it is. Come on."

"What are we doing?"

"Following"

The two head toward the exit and Carina went out first, hoping that if Lydon was out there he would not recognize her. She waved the all clear to Chuck and he exited, Carina spotted Lydon headed north and the two quickly followed. Carina was starting to worry, Lydon was not being cautious; he was walking like he didn't have a care in the world. Carina took hold of Chuck's arm and whispered: "Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?"

"He is just walking out in the open, no security. Something is off." Chuck didn't want to stop but knew that Carina was right. "Ok," he said, "let's hang back even further, and if we lose him we will catch him at the hotel." Carina nodded and the two slowed their pace. Then something unusual happened, Lydon slowed also. "What are you thinking?" Chuck asked as he leaned in close to Carina.

"Trap!" she said it, she knew it, this was no hunch or guess, this was a trap.

"Chuck, turn around and start walking," Carina said in a voice that was half panic. The two turned and then they saw the two extremely large men walking up behind them. "Chuck I want you to run, I will handle these guys."

"I am not running, there is no way I am leaving you alone." At that moment, Chuck flashed and went into a defensive stance and waited. The first man looked at Chuck and laughed and said "Really?"

"What? You scared?" Chuck said egging the man on. The man grimaced in anger and ran toward Chuck. In a matter of 30 seconds, Chuck had successfully landed several strikes rendering the man unconscious. Chuck looked at Carina, who had a stunned look on her face. "I know Kung Fu," Chuck said pointing to his head.

"I am going to kill you, you little…" The other man yelled as he ran toward them. Carina swiftly reached for her handgun and shot the man in the head. Carina then looked at Chuck, smiled and said: "I know Glock." Chuck and Carina both turn to where they had last seen Lydon, and to their surprise, he was still there. Lydon stretched out his arms with his palms facing Chuck and smiled. That was it, that was all Chuck could take and he took off in a full sprint toward Lydon. Lydon saw and ran around the corner of the building. Carina screamed at Chuck to stop, but he was not hearing it. She took out after him but as she was closing in, another of Lydon's henchmen came running toward her. The two were on a collision course but luckily she saw him and was able to stop quickly and the man ran by her. He stopped and came at her again, but once again Carina had the quickest draw and shot the assailant. Carina looked up just in time to see Chuck rounding the corner in pursuit of Lydon.

Chuck rounded the corner into a dark alley. He knew his mistake in an instant. He felt the familiar sting of the tranq dart in his neck, and as he was losing consciousness he heard the evil voice "Hello, Charles."

Carina enters the alley cautiously, but no one was there. She searched everywhere, every dumpster, ever door, but Chuck was gone. For the first time in a long time, Carina was afraid, she hated that feeling. She needed help and she needed it now. She pulled out her phone and saw the "No Service", she threw her phone down on the sidewalk and took off in a full sprint back to the hotel. Once back in their room, she sat in front of the monitor. The picture came up and Director Webb sat waiting.

"Chuck has been taken," Carina blurted out "I need boots on the ground to form a search party. I need them now sir."

"Carina, what happened?" Webb asked while picking up a phone to get things moving.

"He knew… he knew we were here. He lured us into a trap. Chuck ran into an alley after him and now they are gone. How did he know we were here? We have only been here four hours." Carina's eyes were then filled with rage. "Webb, you have a mole!"

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Langley, Virginia**

Director Webb slammed the phone down. He had just ordered every available agent near France to be on their way to coordinate with Carina. He also had people in route to bring in Jill Roberts. Carina had told Webb about the chance meeting **,** she had told him that Chuck had met with Jill at a restaurant right before they had spotted Lydon and she thinks Roberts had warned him. How could this go so wrong so fast? The beep on the monitor snapped him out of his deep thoughts.

"Director Webb, what can I do for you?"

"Diane, we have a problem. Chuck has been taken by Lydon."

"How did this happen, they have only been there a few hours?"

"Lydon knew they were there. I don't know if it is me or you, but we have a mole." Beckman sat back in her chair. "We just got our houses clean." She mumbled to herself.

"Who can we bring in to fix this, who do you trust, Diane"

"Trust is a big word… but I know who to bring in to lead this mole hunt."

"Who would that be?"

"She is one of yours, retired now, but she has a personal stake in all of this." Webb just looked at Beckman waiting for her to continue.

"Mary Bartowski."

"Bold choice, not saying she can't handle it, but don't you think she is too close to this. Won't this compromise her thinking?"

"That is what I am counting on, she will not rest until it is done, and she won't care who it is, and she will end the problem."

Webb sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes, he then shot forward and said "ok contact her and tell her everything, and I mean everything and Diana tell her… finish this by any means." Beckman got a small smile and repeated what Webb had said: "by any means."

Webb took another breath and said, "One last question before you sign off, about Agent Walker, how will she handle the news that Chuck has been taken?"

The General contemplated the question, and then says "If it was Sarah Bartowski, she would burn half of Europe looking for Chuck, but this is Agent Sarah Walker, she will finish her task."

"Good" Director Webb says "one other thing, Carina said a Jill Roberts had also shown up in France."

The General placed her head in her hands and said: "That little manipulator, for god sake whatever you do don't tell Walker that, she will burn down Europe, no matter if she thinks she is Bartowski or Walker."

 **Next: Sarah lands in Germany… Gets some help… Finds out the truth…**


	4. The Dream Police

**A/N Thanks to all the readers that are now following this story. I am kind of overwhelmed by the support I have gotten. I was happy to see FanFiction fixed the review problem; I really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on the story thus far. I tried my best to answer everyone, but if I by some chance missed someone it was an oversight and not intentional. AS always thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!**

 **WARNING: Violence and torture are in this chapter.**

 **Me No Own Chuck.**

 **Chapter 4 – The Dream Police**

 **Somewhere In the Air Over**

 **The Atlantic Ocean**

Sarah had crawled into the sleeping compartment of her jet. She knew she had to get some sleep; the next days were going to be hectic, to say the least. She didn't like to sleep, when she slept she dreamed, and when she dreamed she dreamed of him, of Chuck. Dreaming of Chuck was not a bad thing usually, but here lately all of the dreams had been of him being hurt or lost and she would wake up screaming for him.

Tonight was no different, in her dreams she is running through a jungle, she can hear distant voices screaming _"It's the giant blond she-male!"_ She finds herself running into a building, there he is, it's Chuck. He is tied up, he is hurt, and she can feel herself becoming frantic. In the sleeping quarters, she is tossing, tangling herself more in the bed sheets.

" _Chuck… oh my God! Chuck, come on, please wake up!"_ She hears another voice trying to calm her _"Don't be Sarah Walker the spy, be Sarah Walker the girlfriend"_

" _Chuck I'm here"_

" _Chuck wake up"_

" _Chuck…"_

"…Walker Wake up. Agent Walker!" With those words Sarah sprung up out of the bed, ready for a fight. The junior agent retreated several steps and stuttered to say "I'm… I'm sorry Agent Walker, but we are about to land. They told me to wake you." The junior agent just then realized he had been set up by the rest of the crew. He swallowed hard and mumbled, "I'm sorry." Sarah pushed past him and grunted, "Don't worry about it." She made her way to her seat and stared out the window.

 **Flughafen Hamburg (Hamburg Airport)**

 **Hamburg, Germany**

Sarah exited the jet, just as a black SUV arrived on the tarmac. The agent driving hopped out and made his way to Sarah. "Agent Walker, I'm Agent Sindle NSA, all the equipment you asked for is in the back. Here is a map to the safe house; it is about 25 kilometers south of the city." Sarah looked up at the agent and said: "I know you, why is a Senior Operations Officer playing valet?" The agent just smiled and replied "We do what we can for the greater good"

"There is something bigger going on than what I was told," Sarah said to herself more than to the agent in front of her.

"Isn't it always? When has there been a mission, that hasn't had a sub-mission or an ulterior motive? All I will say is that there is more going on, you do your part and I will make sure everything else is taking care of. That is what I am good at."

"Yeah, I know what you're good at, some of your case files are mandatory reading at the Academy."

"Agent Walker, don't believe everything you read." He said with a smirk. Then the agent paused and looked at Sarah he saw something in her facial expression. "Agent Walker, are you okay, are you sure you don't need anyone to go with you?"

"I'm fine, and no this is a solo mission." The agent just gave her a small smile and handed her the keys to the SUV. Sarah climbed into the vehicle and took a long cleansing breath, slammed the SUV into drive, spun out and sped away.

 **NSA Safe House**

 **Hamburg Germany**

Sarah is tired, Sarah is confused, but she is also driven. She sits at the dining table with maps, papers and reports spread out everywhere. She has to figure out where Lydon's hideout is. The trouble with this type of concentration you tend to block out everything else. That is why she didn't hear the back door open, and she didn't hear the man slip inside. The unknown man dressed all in black made his way through the kitchen, he rested against the wall leading into the dining room, he peeked around the door frame and saw her, she had her back to him, "not smart" he said to himself with a big grin. He was just going to make his move when she said: "I told them I wanted to work alone." Casey grunted and said, "how did you know?" Sarah not saying a word held up her phone which showed a back door intruder alert, and below that was a live stream from the kitchen camera. "Nice" was all he said. "I told them no partner," she said a little more forcefully.

"Tough," Casey said with just as much force as he stood across the table from her, "I have been here from the start to, I want closure just as much as you and Chuck. I know you are having trouble with your memory, but remember this, he hurt my team, he hurt my partner." That pretty much ended Sarah's argument and she turned back to her work.

Casey took the seat across from Sarah and started looking over the mass of papers on the table. After several minutes, the elephant in the room was just too big so he asked "So how is your" he points to his head and continues "noodle?"

"That's real nice," she said and gave him a go to hell look, "I am remembering some things, I have dreams, flashes of memory, Bartowski told me some stories, I can't believe they are true… ugh… why am I telling you all of this?"

"Cause I am so good with lady feeling, I guess"

"You use to say that to him a lot didn't you? You would tell him to do something with his lady feelings."

"Yep… you called him Bartowski, not Chuck, you have never done that."

"Right now I need him to be Bartowski when this is over, then he will be Chuck… my Chuck. I have to keep my mind in this, I can't be thinking about him, or I will not make it out alive, he is too distracting."

"Can't argue with you there."

"I am going to rest and hit the streets at sun up. That okay with you?" Sarah said as she turned to go to the bedroom, then she stopped and asked: "were we close?" Casey lets a small grunt and said "as close as two trained assassins can be, I guess"

"And you and Chuck were… are you close?"

"As close as an assassin and a moron can be." Casey paused and then said "yeah, we were close, all of us. We were… we are family. Sarah continued to the bedroom when she heard Casey call out "Hey, Walker it is good to see you."

"You too Casey." She whispers as she shuts the door.

 **Secure NSA Off-Site Facility**

 **New York, New York**

Mary Bartowski hated being summoned; she hated it even more when it was the NSA. She was CIA, retired but still CIA. As she entered the office located on the seventh floor, she was a little shocked to see it was Diane Beckman, she had been expecting some junior flunky. Mary walked in and took a seat in the chair Beckman had gestured to. "Agent Frost, thank you for coming with such short notice," the General started, still unsure how to proceed.

"General, Agent Frost is retired, I am just Mary Bartowski."

The general let out a long sigh and said, "I certainly hope not. Mary, there is something I need to tell you, the Bartowski family history as related to the intersect project, from the beginning there has been one man…" And with those five words Mary Bartowski's world shattered. She stared at a spot on the wall behind the general's head and listened. She listens to how Hartley had faked everything, how he had tormented Stephen, the only man she ever loved, ultimately having him killed. She listened to how he has used and manipulated her precious baby boy and ruined his life even further by sending Quinn after the intersect. Her mind was reeling; she hadn't even noticed that Beckman had finished talking. Mary shook her head and stood, she slowly walked behind the chair she had been sitting in, she grabbed the chair and then she threw it into the nearest wall, and then she screamed… and she screamed… and she screamed. Mary felt her knees buckle, and then she just crumbles to the floor and cried.

General Beckman just watched her in shock and in that moment General Beckman ceased to exist, and the woman Diane Beckman saw her old friend Mary and she went and sat on the floor and held her. Time past, neither knew how much, but Mary finally composed herself and even helped the general off the floor.

"So you want me to kill him, right? Just put me somewhere close to him and I will do the rest" Mary said with an edge in her voice.

"Mary there is more to it, He has Chuck."

The sadness and despair that had engulfed her just a few moments ago were all gone, now only anger was there, "Where is he, I will end this now."

"Mary, we have people out there working on that, which brings me to the reason I brought you here. We have a mole."

"There is ALWAYS a mole, I want Hartley."

"Please Mary I need you to find the mole, it may be the only way we can find Chuck, we are running out of options."

"Your organization?"

"Don't know, either the CIA or us… find the mole by any means necessary, get the information, however, you see fit, I don't want to know."

Mary stood up and looked at Beckman and said: "Get me reinstated and I will begin now." As Mary reached the door, Beckman called to her and said "Mary, good luck." As Mary turned around Beckman saw the face, the face that has struck fear in so many, from terrorist groups to underworld bosses.

"Call me Frost"

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Langley, Virginia**

Director Webb was waiting on word, word on Chuck, word on Mary Bartowski, hell word on anything at this moment. Finally, he got a call from Beckman to be ready for a secure call, just then his monitor beeped and General Beckman was on screen.

"Well," Webb began "how did it go?"

"Reinstate her, she is in, but she didn't take it well at all, I believe she blames herself for the whole thing. I am afraid this may have broken her." Beckman said sadly.

"Do you think she won't be able to handle the job?"

"Oh, on the contrary, I think she will do the job very well, but as the saying goes, I think I have awoken a sleeping giant. Don't be surprised if people stop showing up for work."

"What do you mean?" Webb asked

"By any means necessary is what you said."

"Good Lord"

 **NSA Safe House**

 **Hamburg Germany**

The sun had barely begun to appear on the horizon when Sarah started beating on Casey's door. "I got a lead, one of Volkoff's arms runners lives in town… get up or I will leave you."

"I'm coming, just let me get my pants on," Casey grunted.

"I'll be in the SUV, your coffee is on the table, black and bitter, right?" She didn't even wait for an answer and she was out the door.

 **Downtown,**

 **Hamburg Germany**

Sarah was walking so fast she was almost running. Casey kept calling for her to slow down so they did not spook the target. Finally, as they got close to Holl Brook a street in Hamburg, she slowed down. Sarah looked at her notes and said "That house there, the blue one." Casey looked through his binoculars and advised that he saw movement in the house. "So what now? Sarah asked.

"How's your German?" Casey asked looking at her

"Sehr gut," she replied.

"Okay, just go up there and tell him your car broke down and when he lets you in, knock him out," Casey said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That easy huh?"

"Well of course not, this is us, something will go wrong," Casey said with a grunt. Sarah just looked at him, shook her head and laughed. Sarah then made her way to the front door and knocked. After knocking again the door open and there stood an older man around 60 or 65 years old, but when he saw Sarah a wicked smile came to his face.

"Ich suche Jonas Fischer, ist er hier?" Sarah said in perfect German.

"Ich bin Jonas Fischer , was kann ich für Sie tun?" And with that Sarah did a spinning round house kick knocking him out. Casey was soon by her side as they dragged the unconscious man back into his own house.

"What did you say to him?" Casey asked

"Nothing much, I just asked if Jonas Fischer was here, he said he was Jonas Fischer, so I kicked him, easy peasy."

"Easy peasy? Really? You sound like Bartowski." Casey groaned.

"Now for the fun stuff," Sarah said with just a hint of mirth in her voice. Casey rolled his eyes and thought "oh boy."

Casey found a straight back chair and Sarah found some cord and they had Fischer tied up in minutes. Casey went and got a bucket of water and threw it on Fischer, waking him up.

"Well welcome to the party," Sarah said, "I assume you speak English?" Fischer just slowly nodded his head. "That's good," Sarah said with a big grin on her face "that means I won't have to translate to my friend while he beats the living hell out of you."

"Okay, I am going to ask some questions, and if I don't like the answers, my friend is going to swing. Got it, good. First, where is John Lydon?"

"Who is that?"

"Aww… wrong answer. Casey, batter up."

Casey moved in close, he had found a metal poker by the fireplace, it would work just fine. Casey reared back and swung. He hit Fischer just below his left knee, it made a sickening thud. Fischer screamed out in pain.

"Let's try that again shall we, where is John Lydon?"

Once again Fischer refused to answer. Sarah put on a pouty expression and said: "Strike two, Casey." Casey stepped in again, this time taking out the right knee, "Oh that sounded like it hurt," Sarah said in a sadistic tone.

"I'm going to ask one more time, if you don't answer me I am going to start taking out vital organs, do you understand? Now is the time to start thinking if you are going to survive this or not. Where is John Lydon?"

"I really don't know…"

"Do you know who he is?"

"Yes, he is Volkoff…"

"Is his headquarters in Hamburg?"

"No, no there not…" Sarah looked over at Casey at the revelation. Casey had the same thought; they had been wasting all their time here.

"Where is it?"

"He wouldn't tell me, said I was weak, he said I would not hold up under torture."

"Looks like he was right," Casey said with a smirk.

"Did he tell you we would be coming?" Sarah asked, now looking a little worried.

Not waiting for an answer, Sarah looked at Casey and said: "this is a set up; we need to get out of here now." Casey got what she meant, he cut Fischer loose and the two bolted for the door. When they were about 50 yards away the house exploded. The two turned and looked at the house where they had just been standing, well the whole in the ground where the house was where they were just standing. "You think he got out?" Casey asked

"Don't know, don't care. You drive I have to contact Beckman."

Casey slid into the driver's seat of the SUV and looked at his partner "You alright?" he asked.

"I won't be 'alright' until this is all over"

"Roger that"

"Walker Secure"

"Beckman Secure"

"Hamburg is a bust; well more like it was a setup. In fact, the only lead we could find was a setup and we just barely got out before the house blew up."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, ma'am we are fine."

"Good, I am sending you some help this evening, and then we will figure were to go next. I have some things working on this end to get some information. If there is anything to know on this end it will be known soon. Wait a minute; did you say ' _we_ barely got out'?"

"Yes ma'am, Casey showed up last night, I put him to work."

"Good we need all the help we can get."

"Yes, ma'am… Walker out."

Casey looked at her with a grin, "You hung up on Beckman… cool."

 **NSA Safe House**

 **Hamburg Germany**

 **Approximately 24 hours after both of the planes landed**

Carina stood at the door, preparing, she had to tell her, and it was not going to be good. To her credit, Beckman had offered to break the news, but she had to do it, it was her responsibility. She took a deep breath and knocked. In just a few seconds the door swung open and Carina was staring right at Sarah. Sarah got a big smile on her face happy to see her friend, and said "Carina! What are you doing here?" Sarah didn't really care why she was just glad she was here.

"We need to talk, can I come in." Carina was tired, she hadn't slept in the last 24 hours, she was on edge and Sarah could see something was seriously wrong. Sarah was getting an uneasy feeling as she stepped aside and let Carina into the safe house.

Carina knew she would have to start so she took a deep breath and began. "I was on the detail in France…"

"You're working on this too?" Sarah interrupted.

"Sarah, please let me finish or I will never be able to get this out." Sarah just nodded but the uneasy feeling just got a lot worse.

"I was in France and my partner was taken."

"Who was your partner, Carina?"

"I tried to stop him, he just ran into the alley."

"Who _WAS_ your partner, Carina?"

"The director called everyone in the area to search…"

"WHO WAS YOUR DAMN PARTNER, CARINA?!"

"Sarah, it was Chuck…" Carina didn't see it, but she felt it when Sarah's fist hit her jaw and then she hit the floor. Casey, who had heard the commotion, ran in to get between the two.

"You were supposed to protect him! He was your partner! You let him get captured! Oh God… Oh God…" Sarah screamed and ran at Carina again, but Casey was able to stop her.

Carina pushed herself onto her knees and wiped the blood from her lip with her thumb, looked up at Sarah and said, "We can finish this, or we can find Chuck, your call."

Sarah pulled away from Casey and walked toward the back of the house and said: "I'm going to my room, have a plan when I get back."

Carina looked at Casey and shook her head, "I have never seen her like this, even in the Ice Queen days or the Wild Card days for that matter."

Casey stroked his chin and said "I have seen it once when Chuck was captured by the Belgium. On top of all of this, the memories are coming back little by little; she is having a hard time processing it all. She is having dreams; I have heard her screaming in her sleep. I think Chuck is the only one that is going to be able to help her."

"What is he the dream police?"

"Cheap Trick, really?"

"What was a Cheap Trick?"

"Never mind… The way I see it we need Walker to save Bartowski and Bartowski to save Walker."

" _May God Help Us"_

 **Next: Everything seems to be falling apart Chuck is in mortal danger, Sarah and Casey barely escape being blown up… Now can Sarah work with Carina?**

 **A/N Okay I had to pay homage to my favorite Chuck episode Chuck vs Phase Three. And please forgive the very stupid Cheap Trick joke.**


	5. Help Is Round The Corner

**A/N Hello everyone! First off, welcome to all the new readers. Thank everyone so much for the reviews, I just think is so cool, when people comment on stuff that comes out my little noodle, so keep um' coming! Hope everyone enjoys their weekend, as for me work work work.**

 **Story update: Chapter 6 is done and is getting the usual spit shine; I am half way done with chapter 7, so who knows maybe I will post sooner than usual.**

 _ **WARNING**_ **: Violence and Torture abound in this chapter.**

 **O~O**

 **Chapter 5 – Help Is Round The Corner**

 **Lydon's Headquarters**

 **Whereabouts Unknown**

Chuck's head was hurting, and his mouth was dry and those were the good things. All he could tell was that he was in some type of basement tied to a chair. Chuck just shook his head, why a chair, can't anyone afford a bed, or a couch even? His back was killing him, so he figured he had been there awhile. Chuck tried to flash, just to get out of the ropes that had him bound, but he was so well secured that he could barely even move. He sighed and yielded to his thought "this is useless, but I will have to use my other skill, I am smart after all." Chuck was trying to work his hands lose when the door opened. Chuck saw him and all the hatred came flowing over him. He tried to stand, just anything to get his hands on Hartley Winterbottom.

"Charles, please calm down, you're going to hurt yourself," Lydon said with a bit of merriment in his voice.

"Well, at least you dropped that horrible Russian accent," Chuck said still working to lose his hands.

"Oh Charles, such hard feelings, I tell you what, I have a video I want you to see, to show you I have no hard feelings to you." Lydon pushed a button and a viewing screen lowered from the ceiling. He pushed another button and the video started.

"Look there Charles isn't that your beloved wife and your friend pulling that man into that house. Oh, whatever can they be doing in there?" Just then Chuck watched in horror as the house exploded.

"You sonofabitch, I'm going to kill you!" Chuck thrashed about more attempting to get out of the chair.

"Well, I see I just can't talk to you right now. I will check on you later. Maybe we can watch another video, starring your sister. See you." When Lydon had left, Chuck broke down, his life was over, and he knew it now.

Lydon crashed through the doors of his office. It was a nice spacious office; much like the one he had at Volkoff Industries, well, to be honest, it was exactly like the one he had at Volkoff Industries. He had had every piece of furniture, every decorative item, even the carpet move to his new headquarters, he liked what he liked. "Why aren't they dead?" he yelled at the man standing in front of his desk.

"Fischer never hit the emergency button, and by the time he missed his check-in call and I hit the detonator, they were running out the back door." The bald headed man said while nervously shifting from foot to foot.

Lydon then pulled his Sig Sauer and place the barrel right between the man's eyes. "I think you are making excuses to cover your ineptitude." Lydon said with an evil grin "So are you lying to me?"

"No sir I swear, that is what happened!" The man said in a pleading voice. Lydon looked over his shoulder to the young woman sitting in the corner of the room and said: "Do you believe him, my dear."

"No"

Lydon looked back at the man and gave a fake pout and pulled the trigger.

 **NSA Safe House**

 **Hamburg Germany**

Casey and Carina sat at the dining table looking through all the reports again. They knew they must have missed something. Suddenly Carina slammed her hands on the table and yells "Damn it, Casey, I tried to stop him." The exhaustion and the raw emotions of the past 24 hours have finally caught up with her, she breaks down and cries. Casey sits back in his chair and takes a long drag off of his cigar, "You know," he says "If I know Bartowski, he thought he was saving you. The kid would throw himself in front of a train to save a puppy."

"I'm no puppy, Casey," she bit back "I was his partner."

"Exactly, I just know he was thinking as he was running toward Lydon… Volkoff… whatever we are calling him today, I will take him down and Carina will be safe. He probably didn't even consider it being a trap till he entered the alley."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better." She said softly

"No, it is supposed to tell you it's not your fault."

"Well please tell her," Carina said nodding her head toward the room where Sarah was.

"She knows."

"Casey I am tired, I haven't slept in over 24 hours."

"Take my room, I will hit the couch, we all need some rest," Casey said pointing her in the direction of the bedroom.

Carina stood to leave, and turned and said: "John, thank you." Casey let out a small grunt and then smiled, wondering what number grunt that was on Bartkowski's list of Casey's grunts.

As Carina passed the door to Sarah's room, she could hear her moan; she stopped to listen and to make sure she was alright. Just as she started to walk away a blood-curdling scream came from the room. Carina pushed the door open and saw Sarah thrashing around on the bed. She ran over and took Sarah in her arm and attempted to hush her, trying to calm her. Sarah awoke and saw who was holding her, and hugged her back, and whispered: "I have to find him, Carina I think I love him."

"I know you do, honey."

 **Cumberland Mountains**

 **Virginia**

"The question that has been asked over and over through the years, 'if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear, does it make a sound?' can also be asked this way 'if someone screams in the dead of night, and no one is there to hear, does she still feel the pain?' I know you can feel it, I see it running down your face, the blood, warm and soothing. I see the fear in your eyes, I wish I could comfort you, tell you this will soon be over, but I cannot. I will not lie to you. I am afraid it is just the beginning."

The shadowy figure passed in front of her once again, the form was even fuzzier than the last time it came into view, was it because of the tears, or the pain. She just knew she could not focus, she felt herself slipping, going to sleep, and then severe pain. She screams, as she looks down at her hand she sees a nail that has been driven into it.

"Now I am sure you want this to end, I can tell, that you would even invite death, but I am not that kind, death is too easy. So, for now, I offer pain"

The mysterious figure's words were just white noise to her, making no sense, having no meaning. She did feel, though, she could feel every inch of her aching body, silently she prayed for relief. She just wanted it to end, she just wanted to sleep. As this "monster" kept talking its white noise she could finally feel it coming. Finally, she could tell it was almost over, so weak, time to sleep. As her head tilted forward, she closed her eyes. Her breath was so light, so soft. It was time.

Like a slap she was back fully awake, things were clearer, clearer than they had been for several hours. She looked frantically from side to side, twitching in her chair, looking for a reason.

"That? That was synthetic adrenaline. I could not have you leave so soon, you just got here. We still have lots to do. There are still some things I would like to try with you, and you should be honored, I have not tried these things with any others. You will be my first. Isn't that sweet? I will make you a promise, though. I will not damage your face; your family will be able to recognize you. See I am not a total demented asshole, isn't that what you called me earlier."

Her heart was racing so fast it hurt. Her head was yanked back by her long brown hair. She felt the knife slide across her throat. She knew it was not deep enough to kill, but the pain seared into her brain. She screamed, but there was no one there to hear.

 **Lydon's Headquarters**

 **Whereabouts Unknown**

The basement door opening brought Chuck out of his sleep, it wasn't a good sleep, it was the kind of sleep you get when your body just gives up. He tried to focus but his vision was too blurry.

"Hello, Chuck."

"Vivian? Vivian is that you?"

"What you don't recognize me? I know the blonde hair is a little much, but I am in hiding."

"Vivian, please help me."

"Why? Why should I help you?"

"Because this isn't you, you're not like him."

Vivian had now become incensed, "How dare you to pretend to know me, you know nothing about me." She was now so furious with Chuck that she walked over and slapped him across the face. "You left me with him; you walked out of that office and left me with that evil sadistic monster."

Chuck hung his head and whispered, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"You did know," Vivian spat back "you knew how Volkoff was, _that_ is the real Lydon, _that_ is the real Winterbottom, he has always been evil." Vivian was now starting to cry.

"Vivian, help me out of here, and then come with me. I will keep you safe."

"Oh, Chuck… no one can help us"

 **NSA Safe House**

 **Hamburg Germany**

Sarah walked into the dining room and found Carina sitting at the table studying the maps and reports. She slowly walked up to her and gently touched the spot on her face that she had hit earlier. "I'm sorry, not my finest moment"

Carina gave her a sad smile and said: "Don't worry about it if I had had someone to hit when all of this was going on I would have too."

Sarah sat down and told Carina she wanted to know about her mission in France. "So what were yours and Chuck's cover?"

Carina knew this was going to get interesting, "We were newlyweds."

"What?"

"Yep… Mr. and Mrs. Irving Miller, staying in the bridal suite." Carina could see the muscles in Sarah's jaw working back and forth. "And you know you were right, he is a good kisser."

"I'm sorry what? What did you just say?"

Carina started laughing, "I'm just messing with you sweetie, but actually we did kiss, we were in the lobby and Chuck saw this Jill Roberts…"

"What? Jill Roberts was in France!" Sarah jumped out of her seat and headed for her guns. She didn't know where Jill was, but she did know she was going to shoot her.

"Aww… Crap" Casey grunted.

Carina looked at Casey and shrugged. Casey let out a little smirk, "Jill Roberts is one of the first memories that came back. Apparently, things that hurt Chuck, things that cause him pain, are right there at the top and they are coming out like puss when you pop a pimple."

Carina looked at Casey and smiled, "Gross, are those the clinical terms?"

"Bite me."

Sarah came running out of the back with 2 Sig Sauer P320's strapped to her thighs, an AR 15 on her back, and she was carrying an assault 12 gauge shotgun. She looked at the others and said: "Are y'all coming?"

Carina looked at her and laughed, "Miss Rambo, we don't have to go after her. She was captured about an hour after the other agents arrived in Marseille. I wasn't supposed to know this, but I overheard an agent say they were sending her back to the States, somewhere in the mountains. There is a specialist there, who is really good at getting information."

 **Cumberland Mountains**

 **Virginia**

Her eyes had become blurry again; the synthetic adrenaline was wearing off. Maybe now she would get rest, she desperately needed rest. She caught a glimpse of the figure out of the corner of her eye. It was coming close again. "Please, I will talk, I will tell you anything."

"I know, and I am really torn. I so badly want to continue our fun, but I feel my time is running out. So I am going to ask you a series of questions. If I feel you have been untruthful or only give me partial information, the pain that you have already endured will seem like a love tap. So let's begin. Do you work for John Lydon?"

"Yes"

"Do you know his true Identity?'

"Yes, Alexei Volkoff"

"Why were you in Marseille?

"To make contact with Charles Bartowski, and deliver him to Lydon."

"Why does Lydon want Bartowski?"

"I don't know," The pain was so severe she almost lost consciousness.

"Why does Lydon want Bartowski?"

"Please, Volkoff will kill me."

"And what do you think will happen here, if I don't get what I need from you, you become very expendable."

"It has something to do with the intersect, Lydon thinks Chuck knows where it is." Again she felt the pain; it was like a branding iron had been stuck to her neck.

"Wh… Wh… Why?" she said crying out in pain.

"You do not get to call him Chuck. One last question and we will be all through. Where is Lydon's hideout? Oh, understand if you don't answer this one, you will never wake up again."

"Cadiz, Spain, in a villa in the northern part of the city… now please let me go."

The figure quickly grabbed the phone as it left the room. She stepped out of the little cabin and begin dialing.

"This is Frost, do you remember me... So you know what I am going to tell you is true… Chuck is in Cadiz, Spain, in a villa in the northern part of the city… yes, it is good intel… yes, I do have her… I agree."

Frost walked back into the cabin, stepped over the bodies of the two moles that she had found earlier.

With two simple gun shots to the moles, Lydon was now in the dark about what was going on, and now it was time to end all of his connections to her family.

"Jill, I think it is now time for introductions, my name is Agent Frost, or to my friends and family… Mary Bartowski…" No one heard her scream.

 **Woodcomb Residence**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

"Devon, come here quick," Ellie yelled to her husband

"What's wrong, babe." He came running in, recognizing the tone of her voice and he knew it was something big.

"It may be nothing, I am working blind here, and I really need new scans of Sarah. This is the scans we took when she had been poisoned by that Volkoff bitch.

"Ellie?" Devon looked at his wife, and then cuts his eye to Clara who is playing in her playpen.

Ellie blushed got a bashful grin and said "Sorry, but anyway look at this; this is the scan I took of Chuck after mom used the suppression device on him. Look at this part of his scan and now look at the same area on Sarah's. You see what I mean?"

"I am not sure, but those two sections do look identical, I have never seen anything like that before," Devon said rubbing his chin.

"I know! Maybe the same thing that makes Chuck's mind and the intersect work so well together is in that section. I know I am reaching, but that is all I can do right now."

Devon looked hard at the two scans and shook his head, "This is your specialty El, and if you say there is something there I believe you. We need to get new scans of both of them." Where are they?"

"Chuck said he was heading to Europe to meet with potential clients for Carmichael Industries and he said Sarah went to Cabo to 'find herself'.

"You sound like you don't believe them."

"I don't… I know they are spying again!"

 **NSA Safe House**

 **Hamburg Germany**

Sarah disconnected her phone and turned and looked at Casey, "I know where Chuck is. I just got confirmation, gear up we are going to Cadiz, Spain."

"Is this from a good source?"

"The best, it's from Frost, apparently she is in the mountains," Sarah said with a touch of a grin. Casey knew exactly what that meant. Jill Roberts will not be a problem again. Casey grabbed his phone and contacted General Beckman. "It's Casey… we have a location on Bartowski… Cadiz, Spain… Yes, ma'am." He disconnected and said "Jet will be ready to leave in 45 minutes," he said as he heads to get his gear. Walker is rubbing off on me, Casey thought, I just hung up on Beckman.

 **One Hour Later**

 **In the Air**

 **Somewhere over Europe**

"I'm going to get something to drink," Carina said as she made her way to the back of the jet, "you want anything Sarah?" Sarah was staring out the window, thinking, how had things gone so wrong? Her mind was on a man she barely knew, but somehow she knew she loved him. Her, the great Agent Sarah Walker was in love, how did this happen. Yeah, she had heard their story from Chuck, Casey had even confirmed some of the most unbelievable stuff, right now though all she wanted was to see him again.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah," she said slowly turning her face from the window.

"You want a drink?"

"Yeah sure, what do they have?"

"Rosella Tomato Juice and SoBe Lifewater, they also have some Kelly Crunch chips if you want."

"The tomato juice will be fine; I haven't had that since… Miami… Miami by the pool… Oh my God… Oh my God… Casey was I pregnant?!" Sarah yelled in a mixture of fear and surprise.

"No… It was a false alarm, but you thought you were for a couple of days," Casey said as he watched Sarah slipped deeper into depression. Casey knew he had to do something and he knew only one person that could help.

"Hello?"

"Ellie, It's John Casey. Ellie a man is going to be knocking on your door very soon. He will hand you a secure phone when you get it hit the redial button, I need to talk to you." And just like that, Casey had hung up.

 **Woodcomb Residence**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

Ellie was just standing there, still looking at her phone when a knock came at the door.

"Eleanor Faye Woodcomb," the man asked **.**

"Yes, that's me," and with that, the man handed her a manila envelope and turned and walked off without another word. Ellie quickly opened the envelope and retrieved the phone. She pressed the redial button and the phone began to ring.

"Casey," came the gruff voice on the other end.

"John, it's me." And then Casey sat back and spent the next 20 minutes going over with Ellie everything that was happening to Sarah. Once he had finished he sighed and ask "What can I do?" Ellie thought for a few minutes, and told him "I need her here, in Chicago, I need new scans, I need to observe her."

"That's not going to happen, anytime soon. We are in the middle of something big."

"Okay then, Chuck should be able to help, to comfort her for right now. From what I can ascertain, from what you have told me, just him being there when the memories surface should calm her. I am really surprised that hasn't helped."

"He isn't here with us."

"Casey, you have got to get him there. That is why those bad memories are affecting her so much. He isn't there to show her he is alright. Casey, I cannot stress this enough, get them together fast, or she may hurt herself."

Casey let out a big sigh, "That might be a problem, I didn't want to tell you this, but you are a Bartowski and you deserve to know as much as anyone." Casey then told Ellie the whole story and as he came to the end he finally told her that Volkoff had Chuck.

Ellie was still sitting in the chair crying long after Casey had hung up, she was there when Devon returned from taking Clara for a walk. Devon tried to comfort her, but not knowing the problem it was near to impossible. Devon was beyond worried, Ellie had not said a word in the last 30 minutes; she would just cry and shake her head when Devon tried to find out what was wrong. He had just decided that he was going to take her to the E.R. when there was a knock at the door. Devon opened the door and to his surprise, Mary Bartowski was standing there. He smiled and said "God, I am glad to see you. Something is wrong with Ellie and I don't know what to do." Mary gave Devon a squeeze on his arm and walked over to her daughter. "Ellie," she said "Ellie, it's mom," and with that Ellie jumped into her mother's arms and broke down even more. Devon could not take anymore and pleaded with his mother-in-law, "Mary, please tell me what is going on."

"I will, I promise but first let's get Ellie to bed. She needs to rest." The two led and half carried Ellie to the bed; they made her as comfortable as possible and headed back to the living room. Once there Mary told Devon the whole story, he was in shock, he wanted to cry, but he also wanted to be strong for his family… he wanted to throw up. He ran to the bathroom and did them all.

A couple hours later, Ellie emerged from her bedroom and sat on the couch beside her mother. Mary then took Ellie in her arms, and just held her. "Mom," Ellie said looking up into her mother's eyes, "what are we going to do?"

"Devon has told me you are working on a way to help Sarah, you are going to continue that. I am going to get your brother, back."

"Mom NO! I can't lose you too."

Mary just smiled, "Baby, it is what I do. If I sat here and did nothing I would never forgive myself. I have to do it. That is why I am here if I don't…"

"Mom NO!"

Mary grabbed Ellie and pulled her into her chest and whispered "Ssshhh… If I don't make it back, I wanted to come here and tell you how much I love you, and how proud I am of you… of both of you." She finished looking at Devon.

"Now I have to go, continue your work, out of all of this it may be the most important." Mary then got off the couch and picked up Clara and hugged her and whispered: "Grandma will always love you." She placed her back in the playpen and then hugged and kissed Devon and Ellie and walked out the door.

 **Next: Everyone is in Spain… Will they find Chuck… Will Sarah survive to find Chuck…**


	6. Why are There So Many Songs About Rainbo

**N/S Hello all! Thanks to everyone who read and committed on the last chapter. I can't express my gratitude enough for all the kind words! This chapter is about 2 days late, because when I finished it, I started working on the next chapters and just forgot to publish it. Full discloser I am form the southern United States, and I have notice I maybe writing with a southern accent, words like y'all and ain't are popping up. I am trying to catch them, but sometimes they sneak through. Well Zachery Levi was born in Louisiana, so maybe it is ok… lol. Have a great week!**

 **Chapter 6 – Why are There So Many Songs About Rainbows? ⁻\\_(** **ツ** **)_/⁻**

 **CIA Safe House**

 **Cadiz, Spain, in the Southern part of the City**

"I got to hand it to the CIA, it didn't take them long to set up a safe house," Casey grunted as he dropped his go bag. Sarah walked in and went right to work spreading out a map on the table. She had to dive right into her work; it was the only way to stay sane at the moment. Carina also went right to work, her guilt was weighing heavy on her and the only way to relieve it was to find Chuck. The two agents poured over the map and the latest satellite imagery, looking for villas in the northern part of the city. Cadiz is a unique city as it is on a peninsula with only three ways out of the city by land. That got Walker thinking they may need a boat. Casey walked up to the table and looked over the map. "We should all get some rest, I know no one slept on the plane and none of us will be any good in the morning. We can't do anything till sun-up anyway." Casey said trying to get the two to relax.

"Do you not think I won't hit the headquarters at night? As soon as I find it I am going." Sarah scoffed.

"And a lot of good that will do Chuck, if you are so tied you miss something and get yourself killed."

"Casey, back off."

"No… Listen, I want him back too. I want both my partners back, but at this rate, I am going to lose both of them." Sarah placed her face in her hands sighed loudly and got out of her chair. "Fine, it is 0230 hours; I will sleep for two hours. At 0600 hours I am headed out, with are without you." Sarah said as she headed for one of the bedrooms. Carina just shrugged her shoulders and headed to a room too. Casey sat down pulled out of cigar lit it and sighed, "Bartowski, you better be okay, or I am going to have to go to three funerals."

Sarah pulls out her go bag, looking for something comfortable to wear, that is when she sees it, it causes a pain in her heart. She picks it and looks at picture of her and Chuck. Strange she had not noticed it before; she just stares at his face and that big goofy smile. She hears her own voice in her head saying "you're my home, Chuck." She pushes the picture back into the bag; she just can't look at it any more. She moves around different things in the bag trying to find anything to rest in, then she sees something else she had not noticed, she didn't definitely didn't remember packing it, but she pulls out a white button down shirt. She knows it is his, she can smell him on it. She puts it on, and she sleeps.

 **Lydon's Headquarters**

 **Cadiz, Spain**

"Wake up, Charles," Chuck's eyes slowly opened and he saw the blurred face of the man, the man he hated more than anything, more than Shaw, even more than Quinn.

"I have some bad news for you, Charles. The film crew just now made it into the States so no film of Ellie… yet." Chuck was worried, but not to the extreme as Hartley wants. Chuck knew the second he went missing, Webb had taken every precaution to protect his family, or at least he hoped. "What do you want, Hartley," Chuck's voice was weak; he had not had any water or food since he arrived… wherever he was.

"Oh Charles, you know what I want, I want my intersects." Chuck looked at Hartley with a puzzled expression and tried to speak. Chuck's throat was so dry he could not form the words. Hartley just rolled his eyes at the inconvenience and motioned for one of his men to give Chuck some water. Chuck drank all the water he could before the man pulled the cup away. He then looked straight at Hartley and said with a scoff, "Your intersect? I have read my father's personal journals. They mentioned a low-level third rate scientist that my mother took pity on and asked my father to let him be on the project. There were several jokes about washing beakers." Hartley was livid and slapped Chuck hard across the face. Chuck just grinned and mumbled, "Vivian hits harder than that." Chuck made eye contact with Hartley again and continued "The most pathetic thing was you falling for your so-called best friend's wife. You volunteered to become Volkoff to prove you were "brave", to impress Mary."

"You are not as smart as you think you are Charles," Hartley said "the intersect worked, it was not corrupt at all. I knew how to manipulate it, how to bypass the effects. I wore my special UV and color filtering contacts…"

"The one's my father invented?"

"…And became Volkoff," Hartley continued ignoring Chucks dig. "The CIA and MI6 set me up with money and contacts and the rest was easy. Enough of the history lesson, where are my intersects, Charles. I know one was in the basement of your old house when it blew up," Hartley stopped and put his hand over his heart and continued "That was my bad." Hartley then looked back at Chuck "The one Quinn stole?"

"Destroyed."

Hartley eyed Chuck suspiciously, but continued on, "So that leaves two more, where are they, Charles?"

"I don't know"

Hartley now finds himself more infuriated than he has been in years; he puts his face right in Chuck's and screams, "WHERE ARE MY DAMN INTERSECTS?" Chuck leaned back scrunched up his nose and said "Would you please use a Tic Tac please." This slap was a lot harder than the first; he felt this one all the way down his back.

"Charles, are you going to make me torture you?" Hartley said with a grin.

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Langley, Virginia**

Director Webb sat at his desk reading over the reports, well maybe not reading but he was staring at them very hard. He was worried, he had known this was not going to be an easy mission, but he had never expected it to go so wrong.The only good news is that Frost had found two moles and they were no longer a problem. The beep of the monitor tore him at of his deep trance and he looked up and saw General Beckman on the monitor.

"Director Webb, any word?"

"Two moles, one yours and one mine. Both are no longer a problem. We no longer have to worry about Agent Walker burning down Europe looking for Jill Roberts; she is no longer a problem."

"Frost?"

"Yes, I thought she was best suited to get whatever information Miss Roberts had, I was right."

"And what about the mission," Beckman asked.

"All teams are in Cadiz, Spain, Agent Frost should be there within the hour. The mission is now two-fold, eliminate John Lydon and Katherine Lydon, AKA Vivian Volkoff and rescue Charles Bartowski, but understand General the first part of this mission is paramount, and I know Chuck would agree."

The general sat back in her chair and rolled her eyes "You know she will not let that happen." Webb smiled and said "yep".

 **CIA Safe House**

 **Cadiz, Spain, in the Southern part of the City**

 **0525 Hours**

Sarah had just gathered her go bag and was headed toward the door when her phone began to vibrate.

"Walker"

"It's Frost; I am in central Cadiz headed north, what is your location."

"Leaving the safe house in south Cadiz, hold your position and we will meet you there in 20."

"Negative, I am going to continue north and set up surveillance."

"We will contact you when we are one klick out." Both women hung up the phone in the exact same moment, the agent's training had pushed its way past the grief and worry, now it was time to act.

"Let's go," Sarah yelled to the rest of her team. They were in the vehicle and had made it to the center of the city in less than fifteen minutes. Both Carina and Casey were holding on for dear life and prayed no local law enforcement decided to see why a plane was flying so close to the ground. Sarah finally slowed down the SUV, as she approached the north tip of Cadiz. She picked up her phone and dialed.

"Frost"

"It's Walker, we are about one klick from the tip of the peninsula."

"I'm sending you my coordinates; I am on the east side of the peninsula."

"Roger, I have received your coordinates and will be with you in 5.

They arrived at Frost's location and exited the vehicle and made their way into the old abandoned building Frost was using. "Coming in," Casey said as they entered the room. Frost walked over to the group and greeted each one with a handshake. "Casey… Miller" but when she got to Sarah she reached and stroked her cheek and said "Hi Sarah." Sarah reached up and put her hand over Frost's and said "Hi Mary" Frost then stood up straight shook her shoulders and said, "Let's go get our boy." Sarah just smiled and nodded.

Casey cleared his throat and held up his phone, "New mission parameters, eliminate John Lydon and Katherine Lydon, AKA Vivian Volkoff, and rescue Charles Bartowski. The elimination of the Lydons is to take precedence over any other aspect of this mission." Casey shoved his phone back in his pocket after he finished reading the message. Everyone looked at each other and as on cue rolled their eyes. "Okay, first we rescue Chuck, and then we kill everybody, agreed," Sarah said. Everyone shook their head and went to planning their assault on the Volkoffs.

 **Lydon's Headquarters**

 **Cadiz, Spain**

The door to the basement slowly opened and Vivian slowly entered in. "Chuck? Chuck you awake."

"Yes," his throat was still scratchy the effect of the little bit of water he had received earlier had not lasted long. Vivian limped to the sink and got Chuck a large glass of water. She held the glass to his lips and he drank the whole glass. "You want more?" Chuck shook his head and said, "Not right now, but thank you."

"You hungry? I have some pudding. I am assuming that would be the only thing you could handle right now."

"No… no, thank you, I am fine." Chuck then took a close look at Vivian and saw that the whole left side of her face was bruised, and she had a horrible black eye. "What happened," he asked nodding toward her face.

"Oh this," she said while gingerly touching her face, "This is what one gets when one forgets about cameras in the basement and calls their father a monster."

"Hartley did that!"

"No… he is too busy to be bothered when such mundane things, this privilege he gave to a man named Hugo Panzer."

"Hu… Hugo Panzer is here?"

"You know him?"

"Yeah… we have been introduced."

"A woman named Jill Roberts and Panzer were the first two people my father brought into his new… family."

Chuck smirked to himself and thought, "well at least I didn't fall for her lies this time."

Vivian then walked over to Chuck she leaned in close to him and bit his earlobe. "Wh… Wh… What are you doing?" Chuck yelled out. Vivian just smiled and leaned back in, Chuck tried to move his head away, but as she got closer she whispered: "Agent Walker and Agent Casey are still alive." Chuck jerked a small bit, but Vivian held his head and she bit his earlobe again. She stood and faced Chuck who had wide eyes in an attempt to ask "Really" without saying a word. "I have always liked you, Chuck; I think I am going to ask my father not to kill you." She then sat down in his lap with her back plastered against his chest. She leaned back and rested her head on his shoulder; she put a hand on the other side of his face and pulled him closer. "I even believe they are here, the people of this town hate my father, but will talk to me. Some Americans were seen entering a house located on the south side of the city. One was a very pretty blond. They are coming for you." Chuck tried to hide the look of hope on his face from the camera so he turned toward Vivian. She stood up again and this time straddled Chuck, her face just inches from his. She leaned to his ear again and whispered: "Please take me with you." She pulled back and looked into Chucks eyes, he saw the fear in her eyes and he slowly nodded yes. She gave him a weak smile, then as an afterthought her smile got real big and she crashed her lips to Chuck's and kissed him hard. Chuck did not reciprocate, but the experience still left him breathless. Vivian stood again and walked toward the door and then turned back and said: "I'll come back and play with you again later." Chuck just rolled his eyes, and remembered Devon's bachelor party and felt sorry for him all over again.

 **Abandon Building**

 **Cadiz, Spain**

The small group was discussing which house they thought would be Lydon's headquarters, "Roberts said it would have a brick wall around it, so it has to be that one, or that one," Frost said pointing to pictures on the table. Sarah had tried to hide it, but Carina caught the shudder she made when Frost mentioned Roberts's name. She placed a hand on Sarah shoulder, who turned and mouthed 'I'm fine." At that moment, a voice from the back of the room yelled: "NSA coming in."

"That would be the NSA strike team," Frost said as she made her way to greet them, hand on her side arm just in case. The twelve men entered the room and the commander made his way forward toward Frost. "Agent Frost," he said as he removed his balaclava. "Agent Sindle," she said with a small smile "come meet the rest of the team."

"Well, I have met Agent Walker," He turned to Sarah and continued "you look better than the last time I saw you." He continued with the rest of the group "Col. Casey it has been a while."

"Good to see you, Sindle."

Frost then introduced Carina to Agent Sindle. Once the introductions were over, Agent Sindle turned to Frost and put his hand on her shoulder and said: "Mary, I was so sorry to hear about Stephen, he was a good man."

Mary smiled and said "Thank you David, and you are right he was a good man, he was a great man. So now that we have an understanding on that you will understand why we are flipping the parameters of this mission. First and foremost we are to rescue Chuck, then and only then we go after Hartley and Vivian."

Agent Sindle stared hard at Frost, wanting to say something but she continued to talk "We are saving my son first; you either back us or leave." Sindle took a small step back and said more to himself than to the group "That's little Chuck… but Stephen said he would never let him join…" Sindle then shook his head to bring himself back, looked right at Frost and said: "Let's go get him."

"We need to send out surveillance teams to watch the two houses, as soon as we know which house is Hartley's then we move," Frost said to the crew. "If your team can handle that," Sindle said, "my team hasn't slept in 18 hours and I would like for them to rest as much as possible."

"That would be fine," Sarah interjected, reminding everyone this was her mission, and they were just along for the ride.

Sindle took out his sat phone and dialed in. "Sindle secure authentication code… Robert… Edward… Sam… five… two… niner…"

As soon as Sarah heard the word, Sam, she had a memory, she saw herself with a man she knew from case reports to be Daniel Shaw. She heard herself say "My real name is Sam." Then just as quick as that memory left another one came. It was her, Shaw and Chuck in that same room she heard Chuck talking to Shaw, "You stole my girl, I'm going to end you for taking Sam." Sarah felt like throwing up, why would she betray Chuck like that? She walked over and grabbed Casey by the arm and pulled him aside and said "We need to talk. I just had a memory. Listen, I have read all the case files on Shaw, but did I really tell him my real name?"

"The Rafe Gruber mission… yeah… fun times." Casey said sarcastically.

"But why… why would I do that to him, to Chuck?"

"Because you were being a bigger moron than the moron," Casey sighed "Ok listen, this is what was going on at that time; you told Chuck that you two could not be together because you were his handler and he was your asset. Then the kid, moved heaven and earth to become a spy, just to be told by you, that you could not be with him because he was becoming a spy, and the whole time you were telling him that, you were playing footsie with a spy just like the one you didn't want Chuck to become. You _really_ messed with the kids head."

Sarah looked to be in shock from this information overload, she was fighting the tears when she asked, "Did I ever tell Chuck anything about my past?"

"I don't know, but I doubt it. That would be one of those things, that the moron would have _just_ had to share with me," Casey said with a chuckle. Casey felt a hand pulling him away from Sarah and when he looked down he saw Frost. She turned him to face her and began to straighten items on his tactical vest and said, "Casey you are a good agent, but call my son a moron again and I will hurt you."

"Yes Ma'am," Casey said stiffening at the thought. As the rest of the team, went back to planning the strategy for the upcoming mission, Sarah just leaned against the back wall. The memories were coming more often now, but she didn't know if they were just random memories or were they in any some type of chronological order, but she did know that this last memory that she just had come after she had told Shaw her real name… after she had betrayed him. She and Chuck were alone in Castle, he stood in front of her and he poured out his heart, "Look I don't want to pester you Sarah, or become a nuisance you can't avoid. I've seen Morgan go down that road far too many times. And since I have already given the fancy eloquent version of this speech before, right now I'm just gonna be blunt and honest. I love you, one more time just because it feels really nice to say: I love you."

Sarah let out a gasp "He loves me, after all of that he still loves me," she said a little louder than she intended. Everyone faced her and gave her the "well duh" look. Sarah began to smile, a smile she would say she had never had before, she smiled a smile that Casey would say she hasn't had since Quinn came into their lives. Just as suddenly as that smiled appeared, the harden face of Agent Walker returned and she looked at her team and said, "I want my Chuck back, I want him back now!"

Frost got a small grin and said "Let's get going… we have work to do." The four then left the building, and split up Sarah and Casey headed east and Frost and Carina went west.

 **Lydon's Headquarters**

 **Cadiz, Spain**

The door to the basement burst open, the collision with the back wall sounded like a flash bang grenade going off. Whether it was the foot kicking the door or the door hitting the wall the noise was loud enough wake Chuck from the soundest sleep he had been in since arriving at Lydon's headquarters.

"Carmichael," Panzer snarls as he enters into the basement. He doesn't hesitate and moved to Chuck and sent a right cross to Chuck's jaw. Chuck saw stars and is tried his best not to pass out.

"Or is it Bartowski?" Panzer says as he throws a left cross to the other side of Chuck's face hitting him again. Chuck felt the cold water hit his face bringing back, his mind is still cloudy, but he was awake now.

"I don't usually do the torture thing… my talents tend to lean more to opening a can of whoop-ass, but since it was you I volunteered."

"Oh, joy…" Chuck moaned. Another punch was thrown this one a straight jab to the mid-section, causing Chuck to lose his breath.

"You see Chuck, can I call you Chuck? You see Chuck, I feel I owe you. For the plane," another hit to the stomach, "and for our time in your little headquarters," and another fist hits it mark on Chuck's face. "Chuck I want you to hold out telling me what I want to know, for as long as you can."

Chuck is now coughing trying to catch his breath, "You haven't asked a question yet, aren't you suppose to ask me a question? You really aren't very good at this," Chuck says as he is hit with another punch to the stomach.

"Maybe I should take out your knee, hell you have two, you don't need both," Panzer said as he kicks Chuck's left knee. Chuck hears the cracking noise and screams out and Panzer laughs. Panzer starts looking around the basement and sees an iron pipe lying in the corner. He walks over and picks it up and does a couple of practice swings and move close to Chuck. "You know" Panzer says glaring at Chuck, "I really don't care that Volkoff… Lydon, whatever he is calling himself today, needs information from you. I am going to beat you senseless and then I am going to crush your face with my boot. In other words Chuck, I'm going to kill you now."

Just as he was about to swing the iron pipe at Chuck's head, Vivian walks into the basement. "My father wants you," she said trying to sound bored with the situation. Panzer gives Chuck an evil smile, pats him on the shoulder and says, "I'll be back."

As soon as Panzer had left, Vivian ran to Chuck, "I turned off the camera; I have to get you out of here now!"

 **Next: Chuck and Sarah… A death in the family… And… Oh you will see!**


	7. Savin' Me

**A/N WOW… Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! I think that this chapter has gotten the most reviews I have gotten so far. I really appreciate you taking the time to write me a few words. Even though some were upset I mention a certain hated episode… Oh yeah, you know that show Chuck, I don't own it, but hoping for a rich relative to show up any day, fingers crossed.**

 **Chapter 7 – Savin' Me**

 **Outside Lydon's Headquarters**

 **Cadiz, Spain**

The NSA strike team had set up around the building, waiting for the order to breach. Casey was watching the house through his night vision goggles when he noticed a buildup of activity. He tapped Walker on the shoulder and handed her the goggles and whispered, "Something is up, there's a lot of activity all of a sudden." Then he smiled and said "Bartowski." Sarah took the glasses and watched as men ran in and out of the house and back and forth on the front lawn. "Oh Chuck what have you done, you better be safe," she thought to herself.

"This is going to make it harder to go in unnoticed, but at least it probably means the mo… Chuck is still alive," Casey said as he moved closer to the outer wall. Sarah and Casey situate themselves on the east side of the gate as Frost and Carina are on the west. The gate is locked by an electronic lock that needed a passcode. Sarah retrieves her handheld decryption device and plugs it into the keypad. Just a few seconds later and all the numbers flash on the screen and the gates popped open. Sarah slid through the gate followed closely by Casey. Frost and Carina follow suit and just before they split up again Sarah says, "As soon as one of us find Chuck, make contact and then we destroy it all." Everyone nodded in agreement and moved out. It had been agreed on earlier that Walker's team would go in and secure Chuck and then the strike team would descend on the house.

The darkness of the night provided good cover, as the team stealthily made their way around the complex. Sarah caught one guard stopping for a smoke and quickly dispatched of him. Casey crept up behind another and applied a choke hold, rendering the guard unconscious.

Frost and Carina were nearing one of the entrances to the house, when a guard jumped out and hit Carina, Frost performed a roundhouse kick and the man backed up, he recovered and pulled his gun and aimed at Frost, but he was too late she had already thrown a knife which embedded in his throat. Frost walked over twisted the knife and then pulled it out. The man quickly bled out. Frost and Carina entered the house and found the security office just one door down. They cleared the room and began searching the cameras for Chuck.

"Walker"

"Just a minute kind of busy," Sarah had rounded the corner of the house and there stood six guards, just talking. She tilted her head to the left and then to the right, rolled her shoulders and then grinned and said: "Oh boys." The guards all turned at once and saw, in their minds, their next meal. The two nearest Sarah looked at each other, smirked slapped each other on the back and headed for her. Sarah already had two throwing knives in her hand and released them. The knives hit their marks simultaneously, embedding into the men's throats. As these two were hitting the ground another guard ran at her, as he neared, Sarah grabbed his arm, pulling him forward, as she almost bent herself in two, placing a backward kick to his face. When he fell to the ground she drove her heel into his nose. The other three men look at Sarah, and then looked at one another, two ran leaving just one. The last man went into a martial arts stance and then began to perform all different types of moves. Sarah watched for a moment, took her Sig and shot him. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard Chuck say "nice Indiana Jones move." She was smiling to herself when Casey came up and said: "Damn Walker, you gonna leave any for me?"

"Go ahead now Frost"

"We have control of the surveillance cameras, but no sign of Chuck. There is one camera that is blacked out; it is the one marked basement."

"Roger… that has got to be where he is."

Casey and Walker crawl through an open window and begin to search for a way to the basement. Casey grabs a passing guard and pulls him into an empty room; he puts the barrel of his Sig Sauer in the eye socket of the man and says, "Where is the basement?" The man looked confused and said "No hablo inglés". Casey just rolled his eyes and grunted and said "¿Dónde está el sótano?" The man looked at Casey and told him it was the stairs two doors down. Casey knocked the man out with the butt of his gun and he and Walker headed toward the stairs.

"Agent Sindle"

"Go ahead Agent Walker"

"We are close, the minute I have a hand on him, I am calling"

"Roger"

Sarah and Casey reach the bottom of the stairs and entered the small hall leading to four doors. The two cleared three of the rooms. When Sarah entered the fourth she saw a chair that someone had been tied to not long ago. She felt physically sick thinking of the things that been done to Chuck in that chair. She saw the iron pipe lying beside the chair and she began to worry even more. Sarah was beginning to get nervous thinking that they may have moved him and she was too late, that is when she heard a small moan. She looked down and saw an air vent, and she ran and tore off the front cover. When she looked into the vent, her heart jumped into her throat, there he was and he was alive, then she saw who was holding him. Sarah pointed her Sig at Vivian and said in a low angry tone, "let go of him or I will put a bullet in your head." Chuck who was in and out of conscious heard Sarah's voice and willed himself to open his eyes. "Sarah," he moaned "Sarah don't hurt her, she is trying to save me." Before Sarah could take the time to figure out what was going on, she knew she had to contact Agent Sindle.

"Agent Sindle, breach"

She heard him say "Roger" and then she heard all hell break lose.

Casey pulled Chuck from his hiding place and when he stood, Sarah went over to hold him up. When they touched they both felt the electricity flow between them. Sarah turned to face him and kissed him, it was the long-awaited kiss, it was loving, it was passionate, it was what both of them needed. Sarah broke the kiss, and looked into Chuck's eyes and said: "Don't ever leave me." Chuck just shook his head and said "never". Casey looked at the two rolled his eyes and said, "I hate to break up the love fest, but we got things to do."

"Frost"

"Go ahead Walker"

"Package secure"

Frost leaned against the wall, blew out a deep breath and said: "Roger, Hartley is mine."

Frost walked out into the hall and open fire on the men running at her. The cold, haunting face showed no remorse as man after man fell.

Casey, Walker, Chuck, and Vivian began making their way back to the stairs when Panzer entered the hall. He saw the four and gave them a grin. He was going to take them all out, he started running toward them when Casey pulled his Sig and shot. Panzer was able to avoid a direct hit, but the bullet did graze his arm. Panzer reached Sarah and the two began fighting, Panzer landed a punch to Sarah's face, knocking her to the ground. He lifted his boot to smash her face, but he was hit by several strikes knocking him back. As soon as Sarah went down, Chuck had flashed, and even with a bad knee, he was able to move Panzer back. Chuck went after Panzer, but the limitation of his bad knee caught up with him and he went down. Panzer came at him, but this time, Casey shot hit Panzer in the upper chest. He didn't go down but he did run back up the stairs. Sarah and Chuck both struggled to get to their feet, but once up they continued on with the mission. Sarah turned to Vivian and put her gun in her face, "Our mission is to kill you and your father, I will hold off killing you, because of Chuck, but where is Volkoff… Lydon, what are we calling him today?" Vivian shrunk back from Sarah and said, "his office is upstairs near the back of the house."

Frost had almost single-handedly cleared the first floor when the strike team entered the house. The team had moved to the main room where the stairs leading to the second floor were when a rain of bullet fire came down at them. Everyone was able to make it out of the way, but going up the stairs was going to be impossible. Sindle made his way to Frost and said: "I'm sending a team to scale the house and come in on the second floor." Frost nodded and Sindle signaled his team.

Carina saw Sarah helping Chuck walk down the hall; she rushed up to help taking an arm. They headed to the security office. Once inside Carina stepped in front of Chuck, she grabbed him by his collar and said, "Don't ever do that to me again! I am your partner! We go in together, you got me!" She then pulled Chuck into a tight hug and whispers in his ear "she need's you." Carina lets go of Chuck and heads out the door looked at Sarah and said: "he is all yours." Sarah looked at Carina as she left the room and contemplated the meaning of how she said "I am your partner" instead of "I was your partner." Sarah shook her head to get rid of the thought and concentrated on Chuck.

The NSA teams used grappling hooks and rope and were soon scaling the house. The flat roof made it easy for the hooks to attach. The first agent went to the roof and found a door with stairs leading down. It was quickly agreed that they would infiltrate from there, instead of the riskier second-floor window. Agent Sindle advises that the team on the first floor would lay down cover fire and the 2nd team would enter.

Sarah had directed Chuck to a chair in the security office and was working on his knee; he watched her wrap a bandage around it, the pain was terrible but he could not help but smile, Sarah was taking care of him. "Sarah," Chuck said drawing her eyes to his, "I know you don't want to hear this, but I love you." Sarah moved up his body and kissed his lips and said: "I want to hear that every day."

"Really, don't you two know we are in a firefight out here," Carina said as she ran past the door. Sarah looked at Chuck and said, "I better get out there and help." Chuck shook his head and grabbed her arm and said: "No, you are staying with me, we have sacrificed enough."

Agent Sindle signaled it was time and said "Ready"

"Steady," came the response from the 2nd team leader.

"Go!" yelled Sindle and then it was total pandemonium. The 2nd team entered the stairwell and was soon on the second floor. They were met by minimal resistance as the majority of the Lydon's men were trying to defend the main stairs. The battle did not last long, the NSA superior skills, and strategy was no match for Lydon's group. Either by luck or by skill none of the NSA strike team was killed.

Soon the all clear was given and everyone was meeting in the main room. Sarah helped Chuck walk in and they were followed close by Vivian, who had been hiding in a closet. Agent Sindle reported to Sarah that they had searched the whole house but found no sign of Lydon. "Damn it," Frost screamed out in frustration. Chuck seeing his mother for the first time walked over and hugged her and said: "Mom, what are you doing here?"

She looked at him like he was crazy and said, "They told me what Hartley had done… what he had done to my family, and most importantly he had you. There was no way I was staying out of this."

Everyone was starting to relax and the teams were beginning to move out when Panzer rounded the corner screaming "Carmichael," before anyone could do anything he got off two rounds, they were answered by 16 armed NSA/CIA agents and Panzer went down in a hail of gunfire. Sarah turned and saw Chuck laying ground; she screamed and fell down beside him. She pulled him over to her and saw that he was holding Vivian in his arms. She had seen Panzer round the corner before anyone and placed herself between Chuck and him. The two shots had torn through her body. Chuck held her as she was taking her last breaths; and she said: "you were right I am not like him." Chuck just looked at her and said: "I know." The NSA cleanup crew arrived not long after the final shot was fired and the teams left, headed back to the safe house.

 **CIA Safe House**

 **Cadiz, Spain**

Sarah was staring at the computer monitor, looking at Director Webb and General Beckman. "How did he get away?" Webb asked after hearing Walkers report.

"He had hidden tunnels that lead to another house we believe he had a boat dock at it and used the boat to escape."

"How many casualties,"

"None on our end, we had four injured, but none life threatening. All but six of Lydon's forces were killed. Hugo Panzer was killed. Vivian Volkoff was killed, but I will go on record that she was helping Chuck escape when we arrived."

"So noted, Agent Walker, how is Chuck."

"His knee is pretty bad, and he was beaten pretty badly as well, but he is ok for the most part, but if you don't mind, I will file my official report later, right now I want to check on my husband. Oh and General you can call me Sarah Bartowski now." Sarah signed off and walked to the bedroom where Chuck was resting. She crawled in beside him and placed her head on his shoulder and got as close to him as she could without hurting him.

"Sarah, I'm sorry," he said as he moved his arm to wrap around her.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I broke a promise I had made to you, I said that I would never go out alone again."

"I remember that, and I also remember I told you I was a trained assassin," she says with a smile, "I think under these extraordinary circumstances I will give you a pass."

Sarah got up and walked over to her bag, pulled out the white shirt. She undressed, slipped on the shirt and slid back up beside Chuck. Chuck rolled over on his side to face Sarah and began playing with the top button of the shirt. "This looks familiar," he said smiling.

"I found it in my bag yesterday; I must have packed it without even realizing it. I put it on that evening and slept for the first time, without nightmares or waking up every 30 minutes. I didn't understand how much I was missing you."

"Sarah, what do you remember about me?"

"Right now I am mostly remembering events, but there is one overwhelming feeling I have been remembering for a while now."

"What is that?"

Sarah looks into his face and then moves closer to him, taking care not to hurt him and says, "How much I love you."

Sarah sat up and pushed Chuck flat on his back, she began kissing him. Starting with his forehead and working down his face, gently kissing every bruise, every mark. She lingered at his lips and moved to his ear. "I want you so bad," she moaned "do you think you can handle it."

Chuck pushed her up so he could look in her eyes and said, "I don't care if I can handle it are not I need you, too." Chuck then began to unbutton what has now become his favorite shirt.

 **In a Private Jet**

 **Somewhere Over Europe**

"That is correct sir, Vivian is dead. She was shot."

"Did Bartowski kill her?" Lydon asked in a low voice.

"We're not sure, we do know Panzer is dead also."

"What else, you're not telling me something."

"Sir, they collected all the data in the computers, and have frozen all your assets; this plane is about all you have left."

Lydon slammed his fist down on the armrest of his seat, "The Bartowski's have been a thorn in my side for far too long, and it is now time that I ended them all. I don't care about the intersects anymore, I just want them to suffer." Lydon got an evil smile, and said: "Tell the pilot to head to Hong Kong; I know just what to do."

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Langley, Va.**

Director Webb sat looking at the split screen on his monitor, on one side was General Beckman and on the other was newly unretired Agent Frost.

"That's my deal," Frost said, "I will hunt down Hartley and put a bullet in his head, or take him to my cabin in the mountains; I could have fun with that." Webb gave a little shudder when he remembered the reports of what the clean-up crew had found in "her cabin." "All I ask," Frost continued, "is that you keep Chuck and Sarah out of this, and you protect Ellie, Devon, and Clara."

"So you want me to sideline two of our best agents, two agents who have and integral knowledge of this whole operation?" Webb asked.

"No, I want you to protect my family, Webb. The CIA owes us this, the NSA owes us this, the United States government owes us this, they owe my family!", although she was not yelling the force behind each word drove home her meaning. General Beckman had just been listening to the conversation between Webb and Frost and thought it was time for her to join in. "Frost," she started "no one knows the sacrifices you and your family has made better than me, but we can it end it, end it right here together. We have put together on of the greatest teams… ever. Once this is over, then they are free to do what they want. I made them that promise, Mary." Frost gave a little grimace when Beckman called her Mary. Right now Mary was not here, but Frost was though and she was not buying any of this. "Well let's look at this team shall we?" Frost said, "Chuck has a broken knee cap and Sarah… Sarah should have never been out there in the first place…"

"Excuse me?!" Sarah yelled from the doorway. Both Beckman and Webb could now see Sarah coming in front of the monitor. "How dare you presume to tell anyone anything about me?" Chuck followed Sarah and grabbed hold to her and pulled her back. When Chuck turned her to look at him, Webb saw the anger and icy look in her eyes; he knew this was not going to be good. Then he saw Chuck whisper something in Sarah's ear, and he watched the icy look melt. She gently placed a hand on his chest smiled and walked out of the room leaving only Frost and Chuck.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"What I always do, protect my family. You are in no shape to be in the field." Frost said pointing to his knee.

"Four to six weeks, that gives me time to learn things, track him, by the time my knee is healed I will know everything I need to know to find him."

"In four to six weeks this will be over, Hartley will not wait that long to come after us… to come after you." Frost put her hand on Chuck's cheek. "Chuck, this is my fault, all of this, if it hadn't been for me introducing Hartley to Stephen…" Frost trailed off trying to compose herself. Chuck looked down at his mother, sighed and said, "I will let you go…"

"Excuse me, did you just say, you will _let_ me go?" Frost said turning to look at her son with a raised eyebrow.

Chuck smiled, "Wrong phrasing," he said crawfishing, "Go and do what you can do, but if by the time my knee is healed and you haven't found Hartley, I am coming…"

"And hell comes with him." Sarah finished for him as she walked back into the room. Chuck then turned and faced Beckman and Webb, "Sarah and I are going to Chicago; Ellie wants to look at Sarah. When my knee heals I will be back, if Ellie thinks it is okay for Sarah to leave, then she will come with me, if not she will stay in Chicago."

"What?" Sarah said with an angry edge in her voice.

"We will talk about it later," Chuck said to Sarah. Chuck then looked back at the monitor and said: "and as for you two, goodnight." Chuck turned and limped back to the bedroom. "Frost looked back at the monitors and said "Well I guess I am going to go do what I can," Frost said repeating what Chuck had told her, and she also left the room.

Sarah faced the monitor and said "My husband is being overprotective, which I must say is kind of nice. But both of you understand, where he goes I go. He will not go on another mission without me, and by the way whose idea was it for Chuck to partner up with Carina!"

"Chuck's," both Beckman and Webb said at the same time.

 **Next: And perhaps I'd deserve you and be… Even worthy even you… If I only had a brain.**

 **A/N Well Chuck and Sarah are back together! Just a word of warning, I am all kinds of fits writing the next chapter, so that update may take longer than usual. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

**A/N Thanks for reading and for the reviews! I guess I should have kept my mouth shut, about reviews, because they dropped off some, but oh well. I am very thankful for those who took the time to say something. Ok, this chapter is all about Charah… I kept them apart for so long, I just had to give them some time together. Hope y'all enjoy!**

 **Chapter 8 – Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow**

Sarah pressed up against him, ever since the rescue she either had to be touching him or at least where she could see him. Her protective instinct had kicked into overdrive when it came to Chuck. Chuck looked around the jet and saw his loving wife, two of his best friends, Casey and Carina, and his mother, who he talked into coming to Chicago for a day or two. Chuck needed to talk to Casey, so he gently pushed Sarah off of him. She began to moan "No… to comfortable… don't move." He smiled and kissed her cheek and whispered: "I need to talk to Casey for a minute." Chuck was finally able to disengage himself and made his way to the back of the jet where Casey was sitting. Chuck sat down and said, "Casey, I need a favor."

Casey smiled and said, "You want me to listen to you talk about your lady feelings?"

"Why yes Casey, yes I do."

Casey rolled his eyes and chuckled and thought looks like I can't goad Chuck anymore, "What do you need?"

"I need you to go with my mother; I need someone I trust to watch her back."

Casey tilted his head back jutting out his jaw and said, "I'll go with her, don't worry Bartowski, I got her 6."

"Thank you, Casey, Oh yeah one more thing you and Sarah were in Germany, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"How many Jeffster concerts were you able to catch while you were there? Chuck said with a big grin on his face."

"Damn, Bartowski, it makes my ears bleed just thinking of those two."

Chuck was laughing as he stood to return to his seat, as he moved forward he saw Sarah just staring at him. He turned and went back and sat down by Casey and asked, "Is it just me, or is Sarah being a little more protective than usual?"

"Let me put it this way," Casey said "if I had to choose to go on this past mission with Sarah again or to let Panzer beat me… it would be a toss-up. Seriously, she was a mess without you, and I think she realized that and doesn't want to be without you again." Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose and just mumbled "oh boy."

Chuck made his way back to his seat and the second he sat down, Sarah engulfed him with her arms.

 **DuPage County Airport**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

The ragtag group un-boarded the jet and were walking toward the terminal, they were tired, and they were dejected. Nothing had gone the way it was supposed to go, by this time it was to be all over, but as the saying goes 'the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry' and so they had… they had gone very "awry". But there was one thing, one good thing, no wait it was a great thing. The two young people walking hand in hand, holding each other for dear life, they had found each other again, and she was not ever letting go. She had remembered one very important thing, something she would never forget, they loved each other.

As they were entering the terminal, Casey, Carina and Mary's phones all started to go off. They were to report to Burbank on Monday of the next week. They were all informed to meet at the new Castle and await information on Lydon. Chuck was a little disappointed that his phone hadn't rang, but only a little, he had more pressing things to do. He had to heal his knee and most importantly help Ellie find a way to get Sarah's memories back. Okay, maybe not "help" per se, but he will be there to cheer her on. Chuck spoke and said, "Well at least you all get to stay the weekend, get some rest, and some really good food, you all know Ellie is cooking tonight!

 **Woodcomb Residence**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

They all sat around the dining table, and if you didn't know better you would have sworn it was just your average family meal. Ellie and Devon were ecstatic to have everyone there. She had her brother, and her sister, well ok sister-in-law, but to Ellie they were closer than any sisters she had known. She had her mom, and Casey, she even made a new friend, Carina. For the first time in a long while, Ellie felt whole. She also felt giddy, all the praise she was getting for the meal she cooked was overwhelming, and she just sat there and soaked it in. Devon was the one to start the real serious conversation when he asked Sarah if she had had any memories.

"I have had several, in fact, I just had a small memory, setting at a table with everyone and Chuck pulling the table cloth out from under the food, and then lighting a soufflé on fire." Chuck, Casey, Devon and Ellie all laughed at the memory. "You actually made that soufflé, honey. I thought you had poisoned it." Sarah's face then glowed as she remembered the whole evening. Ellie felt that it was time to discuss the options for Sarah and led everyone to the living room. "Sarah," Ellie starts off, "I need to know that you are on board, do you want to go through the medical procedures, or do you want to see if your memories come back on their own?" Sarah sat back and considered what Ellie was asking, what would the medical procedures entail? How long would it take if I wait and if I do wait will they come back at all? She felt Chuck squeeze her hand; she turns and asked, "What do you think?" He gives a small grin and says "Whatever you want I will support you." Ellie seeing the conflict in Sarah said: "Tell you what, before we make any kind of decisions, come to the hospital tomorrow, I have the whole afternoon off and I can run the scans I need. Then you, both of you can make an informed decision." Both Chuck and Sarah agreed, and with that everyone could tell she had relaxed. It was like a ton had been taken off of Sarah's shoulders, she did not want to make this kind of decision alone, but now she knew she wouldn't she had the man she loved and her family… yes, it was her family.

Soon Casey and Carina had decided it was time for them to leave, they were staying at a nearby hotel, not in the same room, much to Carina chagrin. Mary, Chuck, and Sarah all stayed at Devon and Ellie's house, and they had stayed up telling stories and just getting comfortable with one another again. Everything was going great until Devon laughed too loud at one of Chuck's stories and woke Clara. That is when everyone decided it was time for bed.

Chuck and Sarah were lying in their bed just holding each other. Sarah laying on her side, with Chuck press closely behind her his arms draped over her in a protective hug. That is what Chuck wants to do… all he wanted to do was protect Sarah. He cannot and would not let her get hurt again. Sarah felt Chuck tense up and rolled over to look at him. As they lay there, face to face she saw the worry in his eyes, she saw the worry lines on his face. She reached up and traced the lines with her finger, then she traced down his jaw and then softly over his lips. Chuck kissed her fingers and let out a sigh.

"What's wrong Chuck?"

"I… I'm just worried, not knowing is killing me. I am so afraid I will lose you again, what happens if they find something in the scans, try to fix it and you lose everything again. I don't know if I could handle it." Chuck became silent, looking at his beautiful wife, the woman he wanted to live out his life with, and then he had a moment of unique clarity. He was being a total selfish ass. Here he was thinking of only himself and there laid the woman who would have to go through all the test and she wanted to know what was wrong with him. "You know what, I changed my mind, and there is nothing wrong with me! I am lying in your arms, we WILL find a way to get your memories back, I am as right as rain, which is strange because rain is all over the place."

Sarah gave him a small smile, "it's ok to be worried."

"No… No not like that I was being selfish, worrying about how this will affect me. This is all about you, what I can do to protect you. That is all that matters, I will always choose to protect you."

"You've said that to me before, haven't you?"

"Yes, and I mean it, every day I mean it." Sarah moved in closer placing her head on his chest and they fell asleep. It was a good restful, peaceful sleep.

 **University of Chicago Medical Center**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

Chuck and Sarah arrived at the hospital just before 1 pm. They were both a little bit nervous and it showed. Ellie just smiled when she saw them walk into her department, they were hanging onto one another so tight that their hands were turning white.

"Guys, it's going to be okay, it's just some test," Ellie said trying to relieve the fear. "Oh and Chuck I am going to need some scans from you too."

"Oh, Joy." He said in a monotone voice. Ellie laughed, and then went into doctor mode, "would you follow me please." And just like that, everything began. There were MRI scans, CT scans, and both Chuck and Sarah got a laugh when they saw each other in the caps with all the wires attached when the EEG scan was done. After all the scans, then there was the blood work, Chuck came very close to passing out when they drew his blood. Sarah just shook her head and said: "You can defuse bombs, sneak into armed fortresses, but needles freak you out?"

"You don't remember this yet, but passing out because of a needle saved my life once."

"Really?"

"Well, that's the way I choose to remember it." Finally, Ellie came into the room and said: "All done, you two can go back to my place."

"Really we are done, for a moment I thought you were going to tell me to turn my head and cough." Both Ellie and Sarah rolled their eyes and laughed. "I wasn't kidding," he continued "I was getting ready to drop trou." Ellie just shook her head and said: "Leave… Oh and I'm not sure when I will be home, I want to go over all the results."

Chuck smiled at his sister and said "Sis, it will be here tomorrow, and we will be here tomorrow, don't stay too late, I know how you can get once you get started."

"I won't don't worry."

"But I do worry,"

"And I worry too, so please don't stay too late," Sarah said to show both her and Chuck were concerned. Ellie snickered and gave Chuck a hug and gave Sarah a kiss on her cheek and said: "See you at dinner."

 **Woodcomb Residence**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

Chuck saw her in the kitchen as he rounded the corner. He stopped and leaned against the door frame and just watched, lord he loved to watch her in the kitchen, her knife work was amazing, okay that was an understatement. He watched her cutting the onions so fast so perfect.

"It's not polite to stare," she said without turning around.

Chuck smiled, "What are you up to?"

"I thought I would make dinner since Ellie is at the hospital working to help me, it is the least I could do. Where have you been?"

"Outside on the phone, Morgan and I were discussing the new Call of Duty. He wanted to know if we should buy it or wait till next year. The improvements aren't that big this year, but next year's game is supposed to be leaps and bounds better."

"How did such a big nerd like you get me to fall in love with him?" As soon as the words left her mouth she knew it sounded wrong. The sound of her voice even surprised her, she just knew she had hurt his feelings, and that was the last thing she would ever want to do. She slowly turned and she saw the faux hurt look on his face. A feeling a relief came over her. She smiles shyly and he had a huge grin on his face. Last year, maybe even last week a statement like that from Sarah would have brought back all of his insecurities. He didn't even know the moment it happened, but he was now secure with his feelings for Sarah and he was secure with her feelings for him. But not to let a moment like this go by he put a big frown on his face and said: "I can't take anymore abuse, I think I am going to go and exercise my knee," and he turned away.

"No… No Chuck come back please," Sarah said with a hint of playfulness. Chuck continued on toward the bedroom to change into his workout clothes when he felt the weight on his back.

"Sarah?" He said with a soft voice.

"Yes?" she said in an even softer voice.

"Did you just jump on my back?"

"Yes, you can't leave! I need you to stay here! I love you so much," Sarah said and began to kiss his neck. "Please… kiss stay… kiss I… kiss am… kiss so… well, you know. bite…

"Ouch!" he yelled in surprise.

"Love bite" Sarah whispered in his ear. Chuck hoisted Sarah higher on his back and began walking to the guest bedroom again. His knee was killing him now, but there was no way he was going to pass this up.

Once they were in the bedroom, he turned and dropped Sarah onto the bed. As he turned toward her, he just stared at her the only word that escaped his mouth was "Amazing." She stretched out her arms toward him inviting him to the bed, when he did not move she said "Please." As he walked over to the bed she saw him wince in pain. Sarah's eyes got big and said: "Oh God, Chuck your knee, I am so sorry, does it hurt, here sit down, let me take care of you!"

"Sarah… calm down… I'm ok" he said smiling and shaking his head.

Sarah reached out her hands again and Chuck took them and lowered himself onto the bed. Sarah rolled over on her side so she could look at him and she gently said: "You know I didn't mean what I said in the kitchen; I know exactly why I love you. You are gentle, kind, you are passionate, extremely handsome, but above all these things you make me better, yeah I know that has been said in every romantic movie ever made, but it is true. Chuck, I may not have all my memories back, but I do remember how I was before you, and just the small time I have spent with you since my memories were taken, I can see the change in me, I need you... I love you."

Chuck sat up beside her and smiled at her, it was that glowing smile, the one that lit up her world, the one that made her melt, and said: "I know you love me babe, and you would have to say a whole lot worse than that to hurt me, I know you don't remember all the little things yet, but you call me a nerd all the dang time."

Sarah sat up and hung her head and said: "was I always mean to you, Casey told me some things and…"

"Sarah neither one of us was perfect in the beginning… Lord knows I wasn't, I was immature and jealous. You forced me to grow up, I knew that would be the only way to 'win your love' for lack of a better term. And Oh what a prize I won!"

"So," she said with a huge smile "I was just some prize you won!"

Sarah pushed Chuck back down on the bed and straddled him, "Well I think it is about time I take MY prize." She reached down and tugged his shirt and buttons went flying all over the room.

"Sarah, I loved this shirt!" he whined in fake shock.

"Oh babe, I got something you will love so much more!" It was passionate, it was intense, it was amazing, and it was... well you fill in the adjective. Chuck felt like he was filling in a Mad Libs, trying to find the right words that could half way explain what he had just experienced. Sure they had made love since Chuck had been rescued from Volkoff, but nothing compared to this. Their minds were as one, their souls were intertwined, and to borrow a phrase from Alex, there were rainbows.

In the serenity of the moment following, Sarah just lay on Chuck's chest and repeated over and over in a dreamy voice "I love you... I love you..." Chuck finally put his finger to her lips to quieten her and said: "So I gather you love me?" Sarah leaned up to look at Chuck and said: "I am nothing without you."

The two reluctantly got out of the bed, Sarah needed to finish dinner, she was thankful she hadn't put anything in the oven yet. Chuck thought since Sarah was busy he would finish the graphic novel he had just started, he was wrong, he was so wrong. "Get in here and help me." She said throwing a dish towel at him when she found him on the couch with the book.

"Yes, ma'am I'm coming."

 **University of Chicago Medical Center**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

Sarah lay in the hospital room waiting, waiting on Ellie, waiting on an operation, waiting to get her life back. The decision had been made, not easily, but it had been made. The previous evening after dinner, Sarah, Chuck, Mary, Ellie and Devon sat in the Woodcomb's living room and made a decision. Ellie was going to try and remove a small blood clot that she believed was the cause of the memory problem. She had told Sarah and Chuck that in her opinion when Quinn used the "flash cards" it caused an aneurysm, which caused the blood clot which was causing the memory loss. Ellie said she could try to treat the clot with medicine, but it would take much longer and there was always the chance it wouldn't work. Sarah was not a patient person, especially, since she knew Chuck was going after Hartley… Volkoff, whatever Chuck was calling him today. Ellie also told them there would be a risk, she may not recover her memories at all, or she could lose the memories she has gotten back. Everyone ultimately left the decision to Sarah, and she wanted the surgery. So here she lay, waiting. She turned and watched Chuck as he stared out the window so deep in thought; he had such as sad expression on his face. "Chuck," she said and held out her hands. He walked over and took them into his, and he gently made small circles with his thumbs on the back of her hands. "I would say a penny for your thoughts, but by the looks of it, it will cost a lot more than that." Chuck gave her a weak smiled, and then leaned down and kissed her; he then rested his forehead on hers and began to cry. He had tried to be strong, but his world lay in that hospital bed and he was afraid. In a time when he should be comforting her, she is the strong one and says "Chuck, our time is coming, I know it seems like we can't catch a break, but for the first time in my life, I have faith." This brought a bigger smile to Chuck's face and they just stayed like that not talking until Ellie came in.

"Guys everything is going to be okay," Ellie said as she walked into the room. "I have the best neurosurgeon performing the surgery, and I will be in there too." Before Chuck could say a word, all pre-op procedures began, so he backed away and watched. It was then time to roll her down to the operating room. Chuck gave her one more kiss and said: "I'll be right here." Sarah was so drowsy all she could do was give a small smile. As Chuck watched her go down the hall he got a very uneasy feeling.

Inside the operating room, Ellie was talking to Dr. James Hopper; they were looking over the scans that Ellie had taken of Sarah. "I want to show you something," Ellie said, "Look at these two scans, this is of Sarah, our patient and this is of her husband. You see these sections, have you ever seen anything like that before?" Dr. Hopper looked over the scans for several minutes and shook his head no. "I don't think this has anything to do with her memory problem," Ellie told him, "but it is something I would like you and me to look into." Dr. Hopper was still studying the scans when he said, "That would be an interesting study, count me in. Now, let's get to the problem at hand." He walked over to the operating table and checked on Sarah. He saw everything was ready, so he continued with the procedure.

Almost two hours had passed and everything was going as normal as these things go. Then as it always seems to do, fate sticks his hand into the mix.

"Doctor, her blood pressure is dropping."

"Her O2 is also dropping."

"Increase the oxygen, and start… hold on I think I have got it."

'Blood pressure and O2 still dropping," the nurse said in a more urgent tone

And then came that sound, that long, steady tone of a flat line. Ellie's hands flew to her mouth as she screamed "NO!" This could not be happening, Ellie froze in that spot, she couldn't move, as everyone all around her jumped into action, and she just stared at Sarah. Ellie did not remember much after she heard the flat line, but she remembered someone moving her out of the way. "What will I tell Chuck," she said quietly.

Chuck was sitting and pacing in the waiting room. He couldn't sit still. Carina and Zondra, who when told by Carina what was going on, walked away from a mission to come to Chicago, both told him they were going to sit in his lap if he didn't stay still. Chuck snickered and said: "I'll tell Sarah." This conversation broke the tension for a moment, but it was back on them all too soon.

Ellie walked into the waiting room and just stood there until Chuck saw her. He walked to her and saw the tears in her eyes. As he came closer to her, the others that were there could see Ellie tell him something and then they watched his knees buckle, in a matter of seconds Mary and Casey were right beside him, helping him back to his seat.

Once again Chuck found himself staring out the window deep in thought, deep in memories"

" _Stop the press, who's that?" "Vicky Vale,"_

" _Trust me, Chuck."_

" _I just wish I knew something real about you."_

" _You… Kissed… Me."_

" _But earlier on in my… drunken haze… I realized that I hadn't asked you a question. Really important question that I'd like to ask you now, if that's okay. Just once for the record… Sarah, do you love me?_

" _Yes. Chuck, I fell for you a long, long time ago… after you fixed my phone and before you started defusing bombs with computer viruses. So yes… Yes."_

"Chuck," the soft voice brought him out of his thoughts. He turned and walked over to the bed where the love of his life laid. "You're finally awake," he said as he gently caressed her cheek. "You had me, worried little lady. Let me get a nurse."

"No wait, I have something I need to tell you."

"Okay"

"Chuck, you're a gift… You're a gift I never dreamed I could want or need, and every day I will show you that you are a gift I deserve."

"Perfect."

 **NEXT: The Hunt For John Lydon…**

 **A/N Okay that was the hardest chapter I have had to write in this story, and I hope I conveyed, what I was trying to say.**


	9. Everyone Thinks I Dodged a Bullet

**A/N Hey everyone. I want to thank everyone who read and all those who reviewed the last chapter! All the feedback was very much appreciated. I know some did not like the surgical method to bring back Sarah's memories, but** **believe me,** **when I say I considered every other thing I could think of. I even thought about the Gilligan's Island route where a coconut fell on her head, but I went with what I did, and I am happy with it.**

 **There** **may be** **a delay in the posting of the next chapter cause I am leaving on vacation (Yea!) this weekend and I am not taking my laptop to the beach.**

 **Thanks again everyone!**

 **Chapter 9 - Everyone Thinks I Dodged a Bullet**

 **Carmichael Industries**

 **Los Angeles, California**

Chuck pulled His new BMW 6 Series convertible into the parking lot across the street from the new Carmichael Industries building; he just wanted to look at it. He leaned against his car and crossed his arms across his chest and just slowly shook his head in awe. The six-story state of the art office building just amazed him. From the gigantic "Carmichael Industries" sign at the top of the building to the well-manicured front lawn that featured a fountain that looks just like the fountain from Echo Park. Chuck got back into his car and drove into the parking garage and found his parking spot right by the elevators, "It's good to be the King" he thought to himself with a chuckle. When he entered the elevator he turned and faced the back wall and placed his hand on a certain spot, a retinal scanner slid out. Once he finally placed his head in the right position and the scanner finally got a good reading the elevator began to descend. Chuck was quick to realize that he was going down a lot further than he thought he would go, and he was really beginning to worry when it finally started to slow, and then stop. The doors slid open and Chuck stepped into the "new" Castle. Chuck would have loved to look around, but he had a lot of work to do, he had a plan to develop, he had to end Hartley.

Chuck was busy at his computer, his fingers flying over the keyboard so fast his hands were beginning to cramp. He was determined to fight through the pain, he had four agents out there and it was his job to get them any information he could find. Frost and Casey were in Hong Kong following a lead he had found a week ago, and Carina and Zondra were in France, going back to see if Chuck had missed anything. Chuck was happy that Zondra hadn't got into too much trouble when she left her mission to come to Chicago for Sarah's surgery; the week suspension actually gave her time to move to LA and join his team. Yes his team, he had been put in charge of the new Castle and all the agents working out of it, just more pressure… Oh hell, why not?

The monitor beeped and Chuck looked up to see General Beckman and Director Webb. "Agent Bartowski, before we get started with the briefing, how is Sarah?" The General asked. "She is getting better every day, if I had to wager a guess I would say about 90 percent of her memories are back, and the ones that have not returned seem to be the more traumatic. She doesn't remember the bullet train at all; she remembers the aftermath, but not the procedure."

"I am glad I am not remembering those things," Sarah said as she walked into the main briefing room.

"As am I," Chuck said as he stood and went and hugged his wife and led her to a chair. Sarah rolled her eyes and said: "Chuck you know, it has been over a month now, and I am probably stronger than you."

"Hush," he said, "let me enjoy this a little while longer." As she sat at the table he kissed her on the top of the head and moved back to talk to the general and the director. Chuck opened his file and began to tell the two directors what was going on. "As you know we got information that Lydon had gone to Hong Kong shortly after his escape. I believe he went there to meet with Cheng Ming, also known as Ming the Merciless, and yes he named himself that, and you thought I was a nerd. Anyway, Ming was once one of Volkoff's lieutenants, and even though he left Volkoff they remained on good terms. I have Frost and Casey in Hong Kong checking on leads there. I have sent Carina and Zondra back to Marseille, France I can't believe that Lydon being there was just to trap me. There is something else there, I am sure of it. But other than that I have not had any other information come in on Lydon." Chuck finished his report and sat back and waited for a response from one of the two faces staring at him. Beckman cleared her throat to indicate she would go first and said: "So nothing new? I was hoping for… for something." Chuck just sighed and said, "I am doing what I can from here, but I really need to get back out in the field to follow up on things." Chuck shot a look at Sarah, who was looking at him with raised eyebrows. Director Webb then spoke up and said: "Well as you surely know Agent Bartowski has not been cleared for field work yet and I am not sending you out into the field by yourself or with anyone but Agent Bartowski, understand Chuck."

"But Director Webb…"

"No, Chuck," Sarah said with force. Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose and said: "Ok-Ok, but I need more information."

The General feeling for the young man's predicament said: "Well, we have Frost and Casey watching Ming and his minions… is there something wrong Agent Bartowski?" Chuck was trying his best not to laugh, but couldn't hold it in, "I'm sorry, but anytime someone says 'minions' to me now all I see are these little yellow men in blue overalls."

Sarah buried her face in her hands and mumbled. "No more movies for you."

 **Cheng Ming's Headquarters**

 **Hong Kong**

"Cheng, I truly appreciate the help you have given me," Lydon said as he sat down in a chair in front of Ming's desk.

"Well we do have a long history, my old friend, and besides this Charles Bartowski and his gang, have caused me my fair share of trouble. So it will be the two stones with one bird thing…"

"Umm… do you mean two birds with one stone?"

"Yes-yes I do. Anyway, what do you have in mind?" The old Chinese man said as he sat back in his chair. "If I could have… oh, I don't know… a hundred of your men and some small and large arms and the special surprise we discussed earlier, I think… no, I know I can take care of Charles Bartowski and his 'gang'," Lydon said with a confident evil grin.

"A hundred men, that seems like a lot," Ming rubbed his forehead with his hand and finally agreed, "Okay… but this makes us even. I like you Alexei, but after this no more favors, we are even." Lydon nodded slowly showing he understood, but it was well worth it.

 **CIA Safe House**

 **Marseille, France**

"Ugg," Carina groaned.

"What's wrong with you," Zondra said with a very bored expression.

"The last time I was here I was in the honeymoon suite and now this… yuck."

"We are in hiding love, so get over it." Zondra was putting her bag away when she heard a knock on the door. "Who knows we are here?" she whispered to Carina.

"Just Chuck, Beckman, and Webb, and they weren't going to share where either team was, just to make sure to keep everybody safe." She replied as she went behind the door as Zondra slowly opened it. "Can I help you?"

"Ah… Agent Rizzo, I see you have made it, I am Agent Edward Rooney, NSA," he said holding up his credentials.

"What can I do for you Agent Rooney," Zondra said not letting him into the house. Zondra was getting a bad feeling about this guy, from his receding hairline to his cheesy mustache to that god-awful gray suit, something was just wrong. Zondra still holding the door tapped her finger to get Carina's attention then moved her finger back and forth in an attempt to tell her that something was not right.

"I'm just here to help, anything you need, I'm your man."

"No, Eddie you will never be my man. So thanks but no thanks."

Zondra went to shut the door but Rooney put his foot in blocking it. He then put all his weight on the door forcing it open and pulled his Glock 23 and pointed at Zondra, he gave her a smile that showed all his teeth and it made her shiver, not because she was afraid, but because the dude was creepy. Rooney then said: "but I must insist, where's your partner, I know she is here somewhere, where is that little whore."

"I'm right here," Carina said as she came out from behind the door and stuck a tranq dart in Rooney's neck.

Zondra quickly disarmed Rooney and secured him to a chair and called Chuck to request a video conference. The images of Chuck and Sarah soon appeared on the laptop and Sarah spoke up first, "What you got Z?"

"Well we had a visitor; he said his name is NSA Agent Edward Rooney"

Chuck got a puzzled look on his face and asks "Edward Rooney? Really, he said his name is Edward Rooney?"

"Yeah, you know of him, Chuck?" Carina asked.

"Well sure… come on guys… Edward Rooney. Okay, I know I watch a lot of movies, but would you three please watch one… gee!" Chuck rubbed his forehead with his hand and continued "as soon as all of this is over, we are having a John Hughes marathon in Castle on the big screen. Okay, back to work, can I see a picture or his face please?"

Carina moved the laptop to show the still unconscious man in the chair. Chuck felt the intersect information come to him. "Ladies that is Staff Sargent Robert Barnes, United States Army. He was dishonorably discharged and was believed to be a low-level operative of the Ring. The last known location was Russia." Chuck took a step back and ran his hand through his hair and continued "Carina, Zondra, Lydon knows you're there, be careful. Get what information you can from him, I don't want to know how you get it, understand?"

"I understand, Chuck," Carina said with a small evil grin.

 **NSA Surveillance Van**

 **Hong Kong**

Frost sat quietly watching surveillance videos, this is not what she wanted to be doing, and if the choice was hers she would be storming the building right now, but unfortunately the choice was her son's. She had told him everything they had seen, the escalation of manpower, the increased number of vehicles, but he didn't want her and Casey going in alone. Ming was gearing up for something, but she would not know what until Chuck let's her do her job. She was becoming more and more frustrated; she was beginning to think that Chuck's inexperience in this type of operation was going to cause them to lose any opportunity they may have. She sat back hard in her chair and gave out an irritated sigh. Casey looked at her and said: "Problems?"

Frost looked at him sharply, almost like she had forgotten he was there, "Tell me something, and this is totally off the record and it won't leave this van, but does Chuck know what he is doing?"

Casey leaned back, and sighed, he knew exactly what Frost was getting at, and he too wanted to go into the building now. Casey finally spoke up and said: "Yeah, he knows what he is doing, he is one of the smartest men I know, with or without the intersect. If he is being cautious it is because he feels there is a need to be. Your husband once told me that Chuck was much smarter than him, and you know how smart he was. Now saying all of that you promise you won't tell Chuck I said that, right?"

Frost gave him a small smile and said: "he's that good?" Casey just returned her smile and nodded his head. Frost then got a wicked smile and said: "Well, what if we grab one of the guards drag him back here and have a chat, he didn't say we couldn't do that."

Casey stood, stretched, grunted and headed for the door.

 **Castle**

 **Las Angeles, California**

Chuck was again typing hard on his computer, checking every CIA, NSA, FBI and every other federal database he could, he just knew he was missing something simple. He didn't know how long he had been working, but when he checked the clock it was now 2 A.M. He knew Sarah would understand that he was still working, but he still felt bad that he had not called her. He decided to only work one more hour then go home, so he cracked his knuckles and rubbed his hands together and dived back in. He was so engrossed in his work he didn't her Sarah come up behind him, and when she started rubbing his shoulders he jump with a start. Once he realized who had grabbed hold of him, he leaned back into her and let her massage his sore neck muscles. As she firmly grasped his shoulders and worked the very tight muscles she leaned to his ear and whispered, "Guess what I found?"

"What did you find," Chuck replied in a relaxed voice.

"The supply closet," Sarah said with a giggle. Chuck jumped right out of his seat and said lead the way. Sarah took him by the hand and led him down the hall. When they entered in he saw that she had already had a cot set up with some blankets, she looked at him and said: "I know this work is very important, but I am not sleeping alone." He smiled and pushed a stray string of hair back behind her ear, and slowly kissed her lips. It was just a soft little kiss to tell her he understood and he was sorry that he even made her think she would have to sleep alone. They walked in and closed the door and got on the cot. Chuck pulled Sarah into him wrapping his arms around her and held her tight. They did not make love; they both just needed to be close to one another, just to hold each other in their arms. To Chuck, it was one of the most intimate nights he had ever had.

A few hours later Chuck was awoken to the sensation of soft lips on his neck. As his eyes fluttered open, he saw his loving wife lying beside him with just her black silk panties on. Chuck smiled and took her in his arms pulling her close to him. Sarah moved close to his ear and whispered, "We were not using the supply closet for its intended purpose." Chuck gave her one of his biggest smiles and said: "Oh babe, I can surely remedy that." It was hot, it was passionate, it was all the frustration that had been building, being released in one momentous moment. It is what they had both needed just to be close to one another, to fit perfectly into one another's arms. They fell asleep together.

They both awoke to the sound of Chuck's phone ringing. They were still intertwined and it took a little longer than usual to get up. Chuck made it to his phone to see it was a text from Casey; he needed to have a video conference with him. Chuck and Sarah dressed and made their way to the main briefing room and initiated the video conference. When the monitor came to life, Chuck saw his mother and Casey sitting there waiting, "Took you long enough, Bartowski," Casey said with a grunt.

"Sorry, I was a little… tied up. What do you need?"

"We were able to get some information; it appears that Lydon has asked Ming for some men, and some weapons."

"Damn… Is it credible info?" Sarah said.

"Very… we got it from one of Ming's men," Frost interjected. Chuck just then took a close look at his mother and saw what appeared to be blood on her face.

"Mom," Chuck said with a little worry "is that blood on your face, are you alright?" Frost took out a mirror and looked at herself then said: "Yes I am fine, it's not mine."

"Do I even want to know," Chuck asked in a low voice. Frost and Casey looked at each other and both said "no".

"Okay… did the informant say how many men or how much firearms are involved?" Chuck asked still a little disturbed about what might have gone on.

"He wasn't sure, but he could tell us that it was well over 50 men, seemingly they keep around 50 men at this base and he said men have been coming in all night. He also said that several truckloads of firearms have come in," Casey answered.

"Alright," Chuck sighed, "do you think that you can get a tracker on one of the trucks?" Frost got a hurt look on her face and said, "Do you doubt my ability, Charles?"

"No mom, not at all, I guess what I meant to say was, is it safe to put a tracker on one of the trucks. I do not want the two of you taking any unnecessary risk until I get you back up there."

"Don't worry Bartowski; we can get it done unseen," Casey said to reassure Chuck.

"Okay… let me know when it is done and I'll start tracking. Good job you two." Casey just grunted and Frost said "I love you" as she was wiping the rest of the blood off her face. Chuck just shook his head.

Chuck looked at Sarah and shook his head and said "I have no words… I am starting to doubt the sanity of putting those two together. We need to make contact with Carina and Zondra and see it they got Rooney to talk."

Sarah began establishing the video link and soon both Carina and Zondra were on the monitor.

"We were just going to call in," Zondra said "we have some information. We now know why Lydon was here in Marseille. He had a boat docked at the port here. It is named… where did I write that down at… oh yeah... the Contessa."

Chuck turned to Sarah and said, "Didn't the government take that away? How can he still have a ship?" Sarah went over to a computer terminal and began searching for answers. Chuck then turned back to the monitor and asked, "Anything else?"

"No, this guy was very low level, the only reason he knew about the boat was because he arrived on it. Somehow they found out we were here, so he thought he would work his way up the ranks by bringing us in, didn't work out too well for him, oh well." Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, two teams, two men tortured for information, go team Bartowski. Chuck looked back at the screen and said, "Get down to the port and see if the Contessa is still there. If it is, try to get a tracker on it. Once you are done check back in with me, but you two please be very careful."

"Okay Chuck, catch you later."

Chuck and Sarah both had been working for a couple hours, searching every known lead to see if they could find out why the Contessa had not been destroyed or at least impounded. Chuck had contacted Beckman and Webb but neither knew why the Contessa had not been destroyed and neither had a definite location of the ship. It was as all the information about the ship had been scrubbed. Just as Chuck had gone to get some coffee for Sarah and him, the sound of alarm sirens filled the air. "That is the cyber-attack alarm," Chuck said as he ran to his computer. Just as he sat down all the sirens stopped and the main monitor in the briefing room came on. Chuck turned and saw the evil face looking down on him.

"Hello Charles, did you miss me?" Hartley said with an evil grin.

"Yes I have Hartley, why don't you run by so we can chat."

"Charles, I see you have gotten even cheekier in the past couple of weeks. I will make this quick, I had some guests drop by this morning, and I just wanted you to know I was keeping them company." Lydon pulled the camera back and showed an unconscious Casey and Frost tied to chairs. Lydon continued, "Now Chuck, I know you have a lot of questions, and I know you will want to save them… please try." He said the last two words with as much disdain Chuck had ever heard.

"Understand this you hurt either one of them, I will destroy you… how was that for a threat Hartley," Chuck said with no emotion in his voice, just pure haltered boiling inside him. The tone of his voice even made Hartley blink, but he quickly recovered and said with a jab, "Well look who put on his big boy pants this morning…" Not wanting to hear Hartley's drivel Chuck interrupted him saying "What do you want, Hartley?"

"That is simple Charles… you."

 **Next: The Chess Board is Set… The Final Confrontation… An Ending No One Saw Coming…**

 **N/A The story is quickly coming to an end. I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have enjoyed** **writing** **it. I will be gone for a couple weeks, so as soon as I get back I will get Chapter 10 and** **11** **done. Have a great weekend!**


	10. But I Think I Shot the Gun

**A/N Hello everybody! Frist off that's to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, your comments are the main reason this story is continuing! Thanks to all who told me to have fun on my vacation, I did! The only bad thing that happened, except the tire on my car blowing out, was I sat on the beach at sunrise and at sunset and not once to a hot blonde spy come by… oh well. This is the end of the story, I have one chapter left to wrap everything into a neat little package (I hope it does). So enough of my rambling, here it is….**

 **Chapter 10 – But I Think I Shot the Gun**

Chuck sat down hard in the chair behind him. The faces of his mother and Casey etched into his brain. He rubbed his face with his hands, and he knew what he had to do. He stood and as he turned Sarah was standing right in front of him. "Where do you think you are going?" She said putting both her hands on his chest.

"You know I have to go."

"No, you do not, and certainly not without me."

"But Sarah..."

"But nothing Charles Bartowski, you made me a promise and damn it you are keeping it!"

"But... but what do I do?"

"You do what you do best, you make a plan and then WE save the world." Chuck gave her just a small hint of a smile and kissed her on the forehead. He then walked over to the small supply cabinet and took out several legal sized notepads and a couple boxes of pens and he went to the table and started to work.

Although it had only been a couple of hours, to Chuck it had seemed like days, his plan had stalled, and he had no idea what to do next. He just didn't have enough information, and just before he began banging his head on the table, his phone rang. "Carina, what's going on?"

"Chuck, thank God, we got the tracker placed but... DUCK!"

"Carina! What's happening?!"

"We were spotted... taking heavy gunfire!"

"Sarah, get in here... Carina back out now... get out of there," Chuck realized that was a stupid thing to say, put he was trying to help. Sarah ran in from the back room and asked: "What's wrong?!"

"Carina and Zondra are under fire... get a strike team there... they are at the port!" Sarah went right to work contacting the nearest strike team and getting them to head to the port to assist the two agents.

"Carina? You there?" Chuck asked with even more worry in his voice.

"Chuck, Zondra is hit... we are surrounded," Carina said. Chuck could hear the fear in her voice; it was a very surreal sound coming from Carina.

"Hang in there Carina; we have a strike team on the way. Carina? Carina?!" Chuck heard a small moan and then the phone went dead. He whispered still holding the phone "Carina... Carina..." He turned and placed both hands on the table to keep himself standing. Sarah saw him leaning on the table and ran to his side and asked: "What happened?"

"Z has been shot, and the phone just went dead." Chuck picked up all his notepads and threw them across the room. As he was picking up his mess, he remembered, Carina had told him that they had placed the tracker. He jumped up and ran to his computer and started the tracking software, and with just one little bing, he knew there was still hope. The ship was still in France. "Sarah, the tracker is showing that the Contessa is still at the port."

"Okay, the strike team is still 30 minutes out."

"Tell them they need to be there in 10, see if that will hurry them up." Just as Chuck had finished that last statement the cyber-attack alarms went off. Chuck turned to the monitors and saw Hartley grinning at him. "You're not having a good day are you Charles?" Hartley said with a sound of amusement.

"Where are they?"

"They are safe and we are taking care of their injuries, so don't fret. My guest, with me here and I will be joining them soon."

"You know it is me you want, set a place and I will be there. Just do not hurt any of them."

"Oh but Charles, you need to suffer first. So how's Eleanor?" Charles turned to Sarah and she immediately went to her phone to call Ellie. After not getting an answer she called Devon. Devon assured Sarah that Ellie was at work and she was alright. Sarah then called the hospital. Hartley, who actually looked bored, let out a sigh and said: "I'll wait... keep trying." Sarah disconnected her phone and walked over to Chuck and said: "They said she never showed up for work."

"Where is she?!" Chuck yelled.

"I was feeling a little sentimental today, so I am arranging a mother-daughter reunion."

Sarah was on the phone and turned to Chuck and said: "They found Ellie's protective team, they are all dead. Vicky Dunwoody was one of them".

"Sorry about that, got to break a few eggs you know. I will contact you again soon to tell you what you are going to do next. Since I have no other way to contact you I would not wander too far away from here, see you soon." The screen went black. Chuck just stared at the screen and then his knees gave way and he fell to the floor. The emotions and desperation now have overwhelmed him. Sarah, who was also in a state of shock, just watched her husband on the floor. She shook her head slightly to bring herself out and went to her knees and took him in her arms and they just held each other.

"Agent Bartowski... Agent Bartowski... Chuck!" Chuck lifted his eyes to the screen and saw Beckman; her whole face was encased in worry. "Chuck, I am so sorry about this, but you and I both know if anyone is going to have a chance of saving them it is you and Sarah. So go save them," the emotion in her voice more than the words, brought Chuck back, at least partially.

 **Unknown Location**

A dark figure sat at a laptop computer he had just sat and watched it all unfold if he had tried he may have been able to help, but he just sat there and watched. He let out a big breath and said: "Time to go."

 **The Contessa**

 **Atlantic Ocean**

"I would like to welcome everyone, I hate that I have to keep you confined, but I can't have you just running willy-nilly all over my ship can I?" Hartley was smug, he was arrogant and he had every right to be. He had just captured four of the best agents in the world all in one day. "I am not going to stand here and bore you with a long speech, so I am just going to give you the cliff notes. You are all here to witness or be a part of the demise of one Charles Bartowski. He will try to rescue you and he will fail and he will die, so now you know my big plan, time to go to work."

The pain and fear of this revelation were evident on each of their faces; they were powerless to stop him, powerless to warn Chuck, all they can do is sit and watch.

 **Castle**

 **72 Hours Later**

Chuck was going over any intel he could find, unfortunately, the Contessa had already left port before the strike team could arrive, they also found the tracker on the dock so there was no way to trace where the ship was. He was becoming frustrated and he needed to do something or he was going to go crazy. He decided he would go to the dojo that was in Castle; once he was there he looked around looking for inspiration. And when he saw it hanging there he put on his gloves and started hitting the heavy bag. He knew he had to hit something his nerves were on end and he needed a release. With every thought of Hartley he hit the bag harder he slammed his fist harder and harder each passing moment. Sarah stood at the door watching him; she was very worried about him. He wasn't eating or sleeping. She knew he blamed himself for all of this and nothing she had tried or said could convince him otherwise. Sarah walked up behind him and when he stopped to take a breath she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Chuck, come take a nap, you need to rest."

"I'm ok."

"No Chuck, you're not. You need rest, come on I will lay down with you."

"But I am all sweaty, and I am sure I stink."

"You smell great to me."

"You, my love are a strange woman," Chuck said smiling for the first time in days. Sarah took his hands and led him to the apartment that was in Castle. He laid down on the bed and she crawled up beside him. "Sarah," Chuck whispered, "you don't have to stay with me I know I really smell bad."

"Shut up and go to sleep," she said snuggling even closer to him. Chuck had just closed his eyes when the cyber alarm sounded. Chuck jumped off the bed and sprinted to the briefing room with Sarah following close behind. Once he arrived he saw the face of the man he has come to despise more than any person he has ever known.

"Well Charles, It looks like you are trying to keep yourself in shape," Hartley said grinning that grin that made Chuck want to puke.

"I was hitting the heavy bag, practicing for when I see you."

"Cheeky this morning aren't we Charles. I guess you noticed we were no longer in France when your men got to the port. Sorry about that but when we found the tracker, I felt we needed to leave."

"I want to see everyone; I want to see that they are ok," Chuck said trying his best to hold in his emotions.

"And soon you will, my boy! I am headed to you, well we are headed to the States, and I want you and your lovely bride to join us. We will be docking at the Port of New Orleans soon. Oh and if you have any bright ideas about sending ships and planes to find us, I will blow up this ship with everyone on it, do we have an understanding Charles?"

"Yes, we do."

"Oh you may want to give me your phone number so I can call you once we dock; I assume you will want to be leaving right away. I don't want you to be late." Chuck gave Hartley a phone number of one of the burner phones that they kept in Castle and then he said: "Hartley why are you doing this? I have told you I do not have the intersect glasses you want."

"Oh Charles my boy, it has gone way past that now. But we are going to have some fun, and as they say down here in N'awlins… Laissez les bons temps rouler!"

After the transmission was disconnected; Chuck began to set up the security measures that he had placed on the rest of Castle on the monitor so Hartley could not connect back to Castle.

"Yes General, I know it is a trap…" Chuck had been discussing his plans and strategy for when they arrived in New Orleans for almost an hour and he was becoming very impatient. "Ma'am, Sir, I really need to be getting underway, can't we continue this on the jet?"

"Chuck, calm down, the jet will be ready soon, are you sure you will be able to handle this?" Director Webb said he had remained quiet for most of the briefing, but he was beginning to worry about his agent's state of mind.

"Yes sir I will be fine, I'll get some rest on the jet. I just need to be doing something, Sir."

"I understand and by the time the other Agent Bartowski returns from the supply run, the jet should be ready to go. Chuck, are you mentally ready to face him again, especially with everything he has taken," Webb sat quietly by as Chuck pondered an answer.

"Yes sir, I know I can be emotional and impetuous, but this is my family I know I have to be at my best, and I will be."

Webb showed a small grin and said: "Well from what I have seen and read, Charles Bartowski at his best is a very good thing. I have sent a helicopter to you and it should be landing on the roof as we speak, it will take you to the airport."

"Chuck," General Beckman let out a sigh and continued, "please be very careful and good luck."

"Thank you General, and thank you to Director. I will contact you once we are in the air." Chuck then ended that transmission and put his head on the table and waited for Sarah.

He was so tired that he fell asleep and did not wake up until Sarah shook his shoulder. The sudden shake made him awaken with a jump and he hit his bad knee on the table. Chuck let out a stream of profanities that would make a Sailor blush, that was all he needed, to head into this mess hobbled. Sarah apologized profusely, but Chuck kept telling her it wasn't her fault. Chuck did have good news for her, General Beckman had reinstated her and she was cleared to go back into the field again. Sarah just looked at him and smiled and said: "She had no choice, I was going anyway might as well make it legal."

They both grabbed their go bags and headed for the roof. Just as Webb had promised the chopper was waiting for them and they were at the airport in a matter of minutes. At the airport they were directed to the Gulfstream G550, Beckman had come through in a big way.

 **Private Jet**

 **Somewhere Over Iceland**

"Yes Sir, what can I do for you?" the pilot answered the passenger on the intercom.

"We need to change our destination; we now need to go to New Orleans."

"Yes Sir, we will still need to land once for fuel, but we should arrive close to the time you specified."

 **Louis Armstrong International Airport**

 **New Orleans, Louisiana**

Just as Chuck's foot hit the tarmac, the burner phone began to ring.

"This is Bartowski," Chuck said as he pulled on Sarah's arm to get her attention.

"Well aren't we sounding professional? Oh come on Charles lighten up, we are here for a big family reunion. There is a car out front to drive you to our location."

"That's okay," Chuck quickly said, "we have a car, just give me the address."

"Well that's the rub; the directions are in my car."

"You're not going to give me the address are you?"

"Well, of course, I am, as soon as you are in my car." Chuck rolled his eyes in irritation and told Sarah what was going on, she like Chuck was very apprehensive but knew this was the only way to get where they needed to be. "Which one is your car?" Chuck asked.

"Just go to the front of the airport, he will find you." Just as Hartley had said the second Chuck and Sarah came out the doors a large black limo pulled up. A strange looking man ran to the back door and opened it and said; "Right this way, please." As soon as the back door was shut, Chuck found that all their electronical devices had stopped working. "Crap" was all he said.

They had been traveling about 30 minutes, Chuck had tried to engage the limo driver, but he would only smile and wave. The limo then took an exit and was headed downtown, at that point the divide began to rise. Once it was shut gas began to feel the back seats. The limo pulled into the warehouse district near the New Orleans port approximately 10 minutes after the gas had been released. The car was quickly surrounded and the back doors were flung open, but the car was empty. The men started yelling and screaming and running around searching for the passengers.

Chuck and Sarah hid behind one of the many shipping containers and pulled off their gas mask. "I will never again gripe about you over packing again," Sarah said as she gave Chuck a kiss on his cheek. The two agents then began to survey for the best place to enter the building. As they moved closer they would come upon some of Hartley's men, the two took turns taking them out, Sarah by her CIA agent skill and Chuck by the intersect. The time Chuck had spent in Castle waiting for Hartley to call, he had used to really familiarize himself with the intersect. He had learned so many new things and he was eager to try them. He even tried the nerve pinch that Agent Jim Rye showed him while they were in Switzerland; it didn't work so he used a back handed brachial stun, which knocked the guard out. Sarah looked over at Chuck and got a worried look on her face, "Why are you smiling?" she asked hoping that all the violence had not driven him insane.

"I have missed this, you and me, together, it is the way it should be, its comfortable like and old shoe."

"Are you calling me an old shoe?"

"No, I'm calling you a kick ass ninja spy girl… DUCK!" Sarah ducked just in time as big burly guard just missed with an iron pipe that would have hit her in the back of the head. Chuck followed up with a palm-heel strike to the man's nose, the guard crumbled to the ground.

"Chuck, did you notice how all the guards are funneling us towards that door?"

"I noticed that too I checked the intersect, and there are a few blueprints of warehouses around here, but not that one."

"But of course," Sarah said sarcastically, "just once can't something be easy?"

Chuck looked at Sarah and said, "If it was easy, then it wouldn't be us." Chuck paused for a second then continued, "I think we should let them funnel us."

"You know what's in there right?"

"Yeah, our family," Chuck said grabbing one of Sarah's hands, "Let's go save them." Chuck and Sarah started easing toward the main entrance to the warehouse, along the way the continued to take out as many of Hartley's men as possible. Sarah was amazed at the control Chuck now had over the intersect if was now a fluid transition, no more faces that looked like he was having a seizure, she got a small smile as she remembered how cute it looked, but she had to admit this was much better. As the two approached a group of guards they were able to over hear them talking.

"Did y'all get it set up?" the tall blonde guard asked the short brown headed one.

"Yep, I marched that suitcase right into St. Louis Cathedral; no one even asked what I was doing."

The blonde looked at his friend and continued talking, "I have never seen a suitcase nuke, what did it look like?"

"Oh I didn't look in, I just put it down and ran." The man said with a laugh.

Chuck looked at Sarah and said: "We have to contact Webb or Beckman." Sarah smiled and said "Stay right here for a second." She moved to the left and in just a couple of minutes she returned and handed Chuck a cell phone.

"Where did you get this," Chuck asked amused at his wife's resourcefulness.

"I noticed that guy over there had a phone on his belt, so I barrowed it." Chuck looked over at the direction that Sarah had pointed and laid out flat on the ground and he shook his head with a smile and mad his call. After telling everything he knew to Director Webb he explained that Webb had a team headed to the French Quarters and would take care of the nuke. Sarah nodded and said "Shall we." And the two continued on with their plan.

Sarah took out the last guard that was standing by the door, she nodded at Chuck and they both slipped into a large storage room.

It was not completely dark in the room, but it was difficult to see. Chuck and Sarah moved cautiously along the outside wall to prevent anyone coming up behind them. As they rounded a blind corner, they came face to face with 20 of Hartley's men. The guards were smug, confident, and stupid. They came at Chuck and Sarah one on one and the two made quick work of them. The guards then realized their mistake and all of them rushed at once. Sarah had some trouble with the 5 that came after her, but she was eventually able to incapacitate them and she turned to go and help Chuck. Sarah stopped in her tracks and just watched, it was beautiful, it was amazing, he had really mastered the intersect. To her, it looked like he had eight arms and six legs moving in a choreographed dance of destruction and just like that the 15 men that attacked him were out cold. Sarah ran up to him and jumped into his arm and kissed him hard. "That was soooo hot," she moaned in his ear. Chuck smiled at her and then he saw a strange expression on her face, and then she went limp. Chuck heard the familiar "swoosh" and felt the jab in his neck, he quickly removed it, but it was too late, he was already woozy. He then felt two more jabs in his neck.

Charles's head had finally begun to clear and he was waking up. As he regained his senses, he found himself tied to a chair. "Really another chair," Charles said out loud to no one in particular, "Someone please get original, heck a lazy-boy would be an improvement." Chuck's attention was then was taken by someone moving in front of him. He then looked up and saw Hartley standing there holding a handgun.

"Good, Charles you are awake, I thought you would never wake up, I really need to learn how to regulate these tranqs." Hartley said and then spread out his arms in a grand gesture and said: "I need for you to look around you, Charles; I have placed you 'family' all around you, and don't worry they are alive, they are… just resting. I wanted them to be here for this momentous occasion, your demise and with you the end of the Bartowskis. Well, Charles, it would seem that our time has finally come to an end and it would seem, there is no one left to save you." Hartley was almost giddy, he had finally won, he had defeated the Bartowski family. He rubbed the barrel of his S&W Model 19 on his cheek, he has always preferred the revolver to the auto, it was just more his style. "Standing here looking at you, I am so tempted to monolog, just like one of those Bond villains you like so much. Yes, Charles, I know everything about you. I truly don't see why you like that garbage, the only one I ever really liked was 'License to Kill', but anyway I digress, I think I am going to tell a couple of things, though, my scientists have done wonders with those little flash cards, so I am going to use them on your precious Sarah, and when I am done she will believe she is my wife, and Frost will make a great servant. As for your loving sister, you understand no one woman can keep me satisfied, so I will need a mistress. The other two women I will give to my men, but I will let them enjoy it I'm not a total monster... well I am, but I am making an exception this time. Unfortunately your friend Casey, he has no use to me so I will kill him. Oh, I will kill you too Charles after you witness everything. After I have had a couple nights with my new wife and you are begging me to kill you… then I will. Oh, Charles don't look so sad, it was inevitable there was no way that a Bartowski could ever beat me. I AM GREATER THAN ANY BAR… TOW… SKI." Hartley finished his rant screaming at the top of his lungs, actually making himself a little dizzy, but he didn't care, he had won.

"Hey… Winterbottom," a voice came from behind him, making him turn around quickly.

"You? But…but-but how? I don't understand, how can…" Hartley was stopped midsentence by a single bullet. It left the barrel of the handgun and entered into his head just above the bridge of his nose and exited at the back of his head. The surprised look on Hartley's face as he fell to the ground amused the dark figure that stood at the door. Then the man stepped over Hartley's now dead body and walked to Chuck and began to cut him loose. Chuck was in shock, and he just stared at the man who was now handing him a knife, "Hurry, cut them loose." Chuck stood up and ran to Sarah and cut her binds and gently lowered her to the floor. The dark figure walked over to the other side of the room and began cutting the rest of the group loose. It wasn't long until all the captives had been cut loose, the man then handed Chuck what appeared to be tranq darts and said: "This will wake them up." Chuck just stood there, not moving even an inch and when he could not take it anymore he said almost screaming, "Don't you have anything to say to me?!"

"Aces Charles, you're aces."

 **Next: Answers…**

 **A/N Nope not going to say anything here.**


	11. Hey Hey I Saved the World Today

**A/N This is the last chapter, I'll put all the lady feelings at the end. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 11 - Hey, Hey I Saved the World Today**

The beach, especially this stretch of beach, has always held a great amount meaning to the Bartowski family. So many important moments in their lives have happened here. And now another important memory is being made as this couple walks together down the beach, his arm around her waist and she hangs onto him tightly. They stop and he turns and kisses her, this had been going on for almost an hour, walk then turn and kiss, they needed to be close, they needed to be together right now, they would sort out everything else later.

Further down the beach a man sat and watched the grin on his face made it evident he was happy. He was soon joined by his beautiful blonde wife who sat down beside him; she laid her head on his shoulder, and intertwined her fingers with his and said: "Happy?"

"I never thought, I never could even imagine having my whole family back… yes, I am very happy."

 **New Orleans, Louisiana**

 **48 Hours Earlier**

"Aces, Charles… Aces Charles? Really? Is that all I get?" Chuck was yelling and he could not stop. So many emotions were going on inside him, at his feet lay the love of his life unconscious, and standing in front of him, the father he watched die in his arms. He was losing his mind. Stephen walked up to him and placed a hand on each of his shoulders and shook. "Charles, I will explain everything I promise, but we need to get everyone out of here, Hartley has put a suitcase nuke somewhere in the city, we have to find it fast."

Chuck still in a daze said: "No, it's ok, I found out where it was and called the CIA and told them about it. Stephen Bartowski looked at his son, his now-grown son with a mixture of awe and pride and he had always seemed to underestimate him. Steven grinned and said, "Good job, Chuck."

"Not too good, I walk Sarah and I into a trap, even knowing it was a trap. I was so arrogant, I knew what he had planned and I strolled right in and said here I am."

"Don't be too hard on yourself son, he had over a hundred men here. You were trying to save your family, which you did."

"No Dad, you saved them, Thank you." Chuck had administered the last antidote to Zondra and everyone was starting to come around. Mary saw Chuck and went to hug him when she saw the man standing behind him. She stopped dead in her tracks and breathed out "Stephen?"

"Hi Mary," she then passed by Chuck and went into Stephen's arms, they held each other tightly, not wanting to let each other go. Mary then pulled back looked deep into his eyes and slapped him hard across the face and said: "Why didn't you let me know?"

"Good to see you too Mary," Stephen said as he rubbed his face and flexed his jaw. Chuck now feeling the urgency of the moment told everyone to start heading out. Stephen being prepared had several handguns in his backpack and handed them out to the group. They slowly made their way toward the exit. They encountered some small resistance, but it appeared that the majority of Hartley's men fled after he was killed. The moment they emerged from the warehouse they were surrounded by several NSA strike teams. Agent David Sindle walked over to the team and said: "Sorry we're late had to stop by the French Quarters and defuse a bomb, thanks for the heads up."

"So you got to it in time?" Chuck asked.

"Yes sir, it was a nasty one, and we were also able to trace it back to Ming, so we have teams hitting his headquarters as we speak, looks like your group has taken down two major threats today, good job Agent Carmichael."

"It wasn't me, David, it was the whole team. Now can we go home?"

"The Jet is waiting for you."

 **CIA Jet**

 **In Route to Burbank, Ca**

Chuck sat in his seat with Sarah pressed hard up against him. The realization of what could have happened was finally hitting the group, hitting them hard. They could have all been killed or much worst became Hartley's possessions. Chuck shook hard as the thoughts hit him again and Sarah intensified her grasp on him. "It's ok, we are all safe," she whispered trying to calm him down.

"But we came so close to losing everything; I should have never let you come in there with me…"

"You think you could have stopped me? I was not letting you go, not then not ever, we are one now, you and me… you got that."

"Yes ma'am," Chuck said as he kissed her on the forehead. "Well," he continued, "I have put this off long enough; I have to talk with my dad."

"Oh I want to hear this too," Sarah said as she followed Chuck to where Stephen was sitting.

As Chuck made his way to the back of the jet, everyone knew what was going to happen so they all fell in line to hear Stephen's story.

"Dad," Chuck said, "can we talk now?"

Stephen smiled and said; "I would like that, I guess I have some explaining to do. I guess I owe all of you that, especially you and Ellie. I never meant to put you through seeing me die, but I always knew when I returned that it was a distinct possibility. So I made an adjustment to the governor I wore. It was similar to the watch Panzer wore on the plane. You remember what you told me about it; it shocked him if his vitals got too low. Well, being on the run for as long as I have had, I did have a few people that I trusted, not many but a few. So, I had made my watch to send out my GPS if my vitals fell, and luckily and I do mean only by luck, was one of my friends in the area. As soon as he received the alert, he came and found me, he grabbed me up and using the same technology that saved Larkin and Shaw, they saved me. Unfortunately, I was unable to speak or even communicate for several days. By the time I was able to tell them you needed help, you had taken down the Ring all by yourself."

"I had a lot of help dad, I didn't do it all by myself."

Stephen smiled at Chuck and continued his story, "I see that, anyway I felt since the danger was past, I would remain dead. But as I have said so many times, you are a lot smarter than me so I sent you the computer message about finding your mom, I knew you could do what I had never been able to do, and I was right. Now that your mom was safe with her family, I was content to let the family live out their lives, I was very tempted to come back when Sarah's memories were taken, but I knew Eleanor would do everything she could to alleviate the problem, and again I was right. When you have the best people doing what they are good at, why interfere. And that is when I found out about Hartley, this one I could not sit out. This one was my fault so I had to come back to help, but I almost waited too late, I almost lost all of you. I am back for good now, I want to be part of this family, I have missed you so much. I hope you will allow me to stay."

Chuck looked around at the rest of his family and said; "Of course you can stay, that was never in question. We have all done… stupid things with the misconception we are saving each other."

"Like running into a blind alley by yourself Chuck?" Carina said with a huff.

"Yes like running into an alley, Carina. Anyway, we have all done it, so I am not upset at all; I know you did it out of love. And as I speak for all of us here, we love you too."

 **Castle**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **8 hours later**

"Congratulation Agent Bartowski," General Beckman said from the large monitor in the main briefing room, "You and your team did excellent work. Now to the business at hand, I speak for Director Webb when I say we want to keep this team together. We are not as stupid as some of you think we are. We see a great team, and a great opportunity to do good in this world. I want all of you on this team, Chuck, Sarah and Casey of course, but also Miller and Rizzo. I believe that you five work together so well if would be a travesty to separate you. I am also offering places on the team for Mary and Stephen, that is if they want to stay out of retirement, this will be your call, I am happy either way. You both deserve to live your life, but I would love to have your expertise on this team. I have also talked with the director of the FBI, who will agree to make the team FBI agents. That way it won't be so sticky when we have missions in the States. And that would mean you would be legal all over the world. I know I have been throwing out a lot of information and I don't want an answer now. I want the team to meet and discuss this and I will talk to you tomorrow." And with that, she disconnected the transmission. Chuck looked around at everyone, who like him had a surprised look on their faces. "She didn't even let me say Hi."

 **Back at the Beach**

Chuck sat on the beach facing the water and was watching the tide roll in. Sarah was sitting between his legs, leaning back on his chest, his arms wrapped tight around her. "Are you happy Sarah," his voice breaking the silence. Sarah took a deep breath and settled deeper into his embrace and said "Yes, and I think for the first time in my life I can honestly say yes. Don't get me wrong I was happy before, with our life, but now I am content. Does that make any sense?" She said with a small chuckle. "It makes perfect sense because mainly I feel the same way. So what do we do? Do we stay with the team, or do we want to just live our lives. What do you want Sarah?"

"I want you Chuck, you are all I have ever wanted, and whether we are super spies Agent Carmichael and Agent Walker or we are businessman and soccer mom Chuck and Sarah Bartowski, I don't care as long as I am with you,"

Chuck squeezed Sarah and said: "I love you Sarah, and I know I say it so much I am afraid it may lose its meaning, but I have no other words, how do I tell you, that when you're not here I can't breathe because you are my oxygen. You are the light of my day, and now I am starting to sound like a hallmark card." Sarah turned in his arms so that they were face to face and said "I love you too," and she kissed him.

The two stayed on the beach to well after sundown and then decided it was time to go home. As they were walking toward the parking lot, Chuck bumped shoulders with Sarah and said: "General Beckman told me you wanted to put me in a bunker." Sarah darted her head toward Chuck, but could tell by his smile that he wasn't upset and was joking with her. Sarah shrugged her shoulders and said; "Well I had an excuse, I wasn't in my right mind and I was worried you do something stupid, which I wasn't wrong. The thing I am more curious is why you kissed Carina?" Chuck stopped dead in his tracks and Sarah with a huge smile on her face kept on walking. Chuck then started going after her "Sarah wait… I can explain… Sarah…. Wait…."

 **Hey Hey I saved the world today**

 **Everybody's happy now**

 **The bad things gone away**

 **And everybody's happy now**

 **The good thing's here to stay**

 **Please let it stay!**

 **~The End~**

 **A/N Thank you all for reading and reviewing. The reception I got from this story was an unexpected surprise. Just a few things, I am sure you all noticed that each chapter was either a song title or a line from a song. That was a nod to the show, I thought the music was wonderful, from the Huey Lewis greatest hits, to** " **Just like Paradise" when Carina entered into the Buy More. Every scene seemed to have a song that just fit. The OC Agent David Sindle was not me… It was named for a cousin I lost in the early 90's. He would have loved Chuck as much as I do, if not more, so to honor him I put him in my first "Chuck" story. That is about it, I have three other stories in mind for "Chuck" so I hope I am able to get them out. And once again Thanks! ~CDS~**


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